Senior Minister calls for respect for people's opinion

Accra, March 26, GNA - Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, Senior Minister, on Thursday called on Ghanaians to appreciate and tolerate each other's opinion so as to foster unity as a nation with a common goal. He said although people might disagree with one another, it was important that they use dialogue in expressing their disagreements. "It does not matter the individual views we hold, what is important is for us, as a nation to appreciate each other's opinion to enable us to build a democratic culture."

Mr Mensah was speaking at the launch of a 192-page book entitled: "Voice from Afar - A Ghanaian Experience," authored by Mr Kwaku Baprui (K.B) Asante, a retired diplomat.

The book is a compilation of feature articles written by Mr Asante and published in the "Daily Graphic" newspaper over the past ten years. The Senior Minister lauded Mr Asante's contributions towards national development over the years, saying his articles had brought lessons to many people.

Mr Asante, who attained 80 years on Friday, a day after the launch, urged parents and teachers to motivate children by praising them, even in their little efforts, to enable them to do more in future. He said he has got this far as a result of the encouragement and complements he had received from friends since he stated writing articles ten years ago.

However, he said, what saddened him was when people approached him to find out his political affiliation to enable them to "pin" him without necessarily analysing the logic in his articles.

He said he would continue to write feature articles and share his knowledge with those who had the development of the nation at heart. The first four books were auctioned at four million cedis.