The Executive Director of Ghana Blind Union (GBU), Peter Obeng-Asamoah, has called on government to waive all taxes and duties on special equipment for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) at the port.  

He said that special equipment, such as white canes for the blind, which were necessary for their daily existence, were expensive at their material centres due to high excise duties and taxes. 

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Obeng-Asamoah said that one of the barriers to all blind people acquiring white canes was the government’s desire to profit from them through port charges.  

“We have guarantees in our constitution. We say freedom of association, freedom of movement, and things… how do we move about if we do not have a white cane, these are things that we believe government should be able to provide for us. 

‘‘We do not think we are asking for too much by saying that every blind person in Ghana deserves the right to walk up and down or deserves the right to own a white cane,’’ he said. 

Mr Obeng-Asamoah stated that ‘basic things’ like Braille sheets used as writing paper for blind students in schools were subject to port duties. 

”For example, schoolchildren pay their exam fees and write their papers, but blind students must bring their own papers because they are not provided. The government provides textbooks to students in schools, but blind students do not have them,” he bemoaned. 

He urged the government to create as level a playing field as possible so that persons with disabilities could contribute to their own and the country’s growth. 

Mr Obeng-Asamoah contended that the blind and other PWDs required special vehicles with certain features and should be exempt from paying charges, like the waiver that physically challenged individuals obtained on their cars at the port. 

“As it stands right now, it is discriminatory in the approach, which means that you need to have a physically disabled person importing that modified vehicle before government will allow those services to be waived.  

“I do not think we are being fair, so we need that law to be modified so that all PWDs can enjoy that facility,’ he stated.