World Peace Day marked at Bortianor

Accra, Sept. 26, GNA - Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Deputy Minister of Information, has asked the chiefs, elders and people of Bortianor to give peace a chance in the community to enable it to make giant strides in development.

Bortianor, situated in the Ga West District of Greater Accra Region, has been a flash point of various disputes in recent times. A statement from the Information Services Department said Ms Botchway was addressing this year's World Peace Day in the town. Ms Botchway said for peace to prevail in the area, the people must be disciplined and respect laid-down regulations and customs governing the selection of leaders.

World Peace Day, commemorated on September 21 each year, has been set aside by the UN General Assembly to mark the International Day of Peace, which is also observed as a day of global cease-fire and non-violence.

Ms Botchway told the people of Bortianor that the use of violence had never impacted positively on communities in dispute since it only resulted in loss of properties and sometimes lives. She said as the Member of Parliament of Weija under which Bortianor fell, she desired to see to the total development of the constituency but warned: "This could only be realised if peaceful initiatives such as the International Day of Peace would be embraced by all citizens". She said school children must be involved in such occasions for the virtue of non-violence and constant dialoguing on disagreement to be inculcated in them.