Bolgatanga (UE), Oct.20, GNA- People with vision impairment on Friday commemorated the International day of the White Cane in Bolgatanga with a call on all to respect the dignity of  people with vision impairment.      Mr Moses Ayorka, President of the Upper East Branch, noted that the vision impaired continued to suffer discrimination at workplaces while the public regarded the use of the White Cane as an obstruction to their movement.     He said drivers, riders and pedestrians found the use of the White Cane an obstruction and also the public frowned on them and regarded them as beggars.      On a route march with placards with inscriptions “Blindness is not contagious”,  “respect the blind” and “we need peace”, Mr Mark Akubire Atia,  who is a member of the association indicated that the White Cane was important to the vision impaired because it helped them to move about and also served as a supportive tool for identifying obstacles  and detecting lost items.      He said the blind could also play any leadership role as any other person and called on the general public not to discriminate against them.      He also enumerated other challenges such as members’ inability to procure the White Cane and called on benevolent organizations to come to their aid.      He added his voice to the message of the President of the Republic, Mr John Mahama in an address to the nation that Ghanaians should avoid character assassination but rather be engaged in discussing positive issues that would bring development to the country.   “When there is conflict, the blind would have no place to go”,  he added and called on all to let the 2012 election be a successful and peaceful one.   GNA...

Accra,Oct. 20,GNA- Former President, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings has lamented the over-reliance on physical security to enforce peace on the African continent and called for investment in identifying the root causes of insecurity.   He said: “Too often we invest in physical security but that creates more enmity and stress. We should invest more time in political security. Physical security subordinates us and brings the worst out of us instead of the best.”   Former President Rawlings made the call when the Governor of Abia State of Nigeria, Chief Theodore Orji, paid a courtesy call on him at his Ridge office in Accra.   Chief Orji is in Ghana to participate as the Guest Speaker at the 8th Security Watch Lecture Series and 9th Annual Africa Security Awards Ceremony organised by Security Watch Africa.   Former President Rawlings commended the organisers for the choice of subject and said lack of security was a problem confronting the continent.   He said during his tenure as leader of Ghana, his government invested more in reaching the sources of problems and empowering the people, dwelling a lot more on education and doing away with social injustices.   Governor Orji, who received an award for instituting exemplary security policies in Abia State, said he called on President Rawlings because of the special relationship Nigeria has with Ghana.   He said the state government had invested a great deal in boosting security in Abia through the empowerment of the people and involvement of every citizen in governance.   Loans, he stated, had been offered to the youth to start their own businesses, the security forces had been equipped not only with weapons but in the area of intelligence gathering and the state legislature has formulated laws that facilitated the policies implemented by government.   President Rawlings expressed his gratitude for the courtesy call and prayed that all efforts will be made to explore the root causes of the situation in Mali so its resolution will serve as an example of how Africa can resolve its own problems.   He commended Chief Orji for his outstanding leadership and said Africa needed a few more of his ilk.   GNA...

Takoradi, Oct. 20, GNA- President John Dramani Mahama on Friday announced that government would revamp the country’s rail transport to reduce the burden on road transport which has manifested in traffic congestion.   Apart from that, he said the revamping of the railways would also facilitate the haulage of minerals, food and cash crops from the farming communities to marketing centres.   President Mahama announced this when he addressed Railway Workers Union in Takoradi as part of his five-day campaign tour of the Region.   During his stay in the Region, President Mahama would address rallies, inaugurate completed development projects, cut sod for the commencement of others and interact with chiefs and party supporters in the region.   President Mahama regretted that railway workers were some of the least paid government workers and promised that as soon as conditions were improved, their remunerations would also be increased to commensurate their performance in the country.   He said government had also awarded the Takoradi-Kojokrom railways on contract and was burnt on working on all the dilapidated and abandoned ones to recreate more jobs for workers and facilitate the movement of minerals and commodities to marketing locations.   Mr Godwill Ntarmah, Secretary General of Ghana Railway Workers Union, lamented that the highest paid worker at Ghana railways was taking about GHC 700 as salary and called on government to help to place them on the Single Spine Salary Structure.   The General Secretary also called for the review of their collective bargaining agreement to enable them to make the necessary salary negotiation for their workers.   He appealed to government to reverse the trend of delaying their salaries which had over the years plagued the company.   GNA...