Ho, Aug. 2, GNA - Mr Eliezer Tetteh Plahar, National Director of the Ghana Association of the Blind (GAB), has urged the blind to treasure their rights to vote and urged them to exercise their franchise in Election 2004 according to their own conscience. Addressing the Ho District Convention of the GAB at Ho on Friday, Mr Plahar said their individual votes were worth the same as those of their sighted compatriots. He reminded the Electoral Commission (EC) of its pledge to make it possible for blind voters like all others to exercise their franchise without interference.

Mr Plahar said the previous arrangement under which blind voters were assisted by the sighted to vote was a denial of their right to vote in privacy and secrecy. Moreover, such an arrangement was prone to abuses because those to assist the blind to vote could mislead them to vote for candidates they would otherwise not vote for.

Mr Plahar urged politicians and political parties to address issues during their campaigns rather than resorting to the base methods of whipping up sentiments and inciting their followers to violence. He said the country should be spared the misfortune of politically motivated conflicts that would only bring in their trail suffering, misery and an increase in the number of disabled persons.