GBC boss calls on Ghanaians to preserve prevailing peace

Accra, Aug 19, GNA - Mr William Ampem Darko, Director General of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) has called on corporate bodies to support all peace related initiatives in the country. "No one can do business in a dislocated environment or a war- torn state and therefore peace is a necessary tool for development and economic growth of the people."

Mr Darko made the observation when the country representatives of the World Without Wars, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), called on him in Accra.

The primary concern of the NGO is to create global awareness about the need for the condemnation of all forms of violence. He pointed out that Ghana is now the beacon of peace in the West African sub-region, adding that the peace that the country is enjoying should not be taken for granted.

He said GBC would do everything possible to support the aspirations of the NGO.

Mr Ben Annan, Country Executive Director of the NGO said peace being a vulnerable issue must be handled with care and tact, because "if one looses it, it is very difficult to control hence the need for constant awareness creation and consensus-building on the issue". He said wars do not have barriers since it could be started in one country and degenerate into another.

Mr Annan noted that there is the need for social-cultural integration of the people to nip violence in the bud. Mr Kwabena Williams, West Africa Co-ordinator of the NGO announced that the organisation would begin the first ever world march against violence on October 2, in New Zealand.

The march would call on all nations to end wars, nuclear arms proliferation and the elimination of all kinds of violence. Mr Williams said the march would cover about 160,000 kilometres around the earth, whilst a symbolic torch of the event would be handed to President John Evans Atta Mills on November 8. He said the UN had declared the birthday of the late Indian Prime Mahatma Gandhi as the International Day of Non-Violence, which would take place at Andes Mountains (Aconcagua) Argentina on January 2, 2010.