Govt prints constitution in Braille for the blind

In a bid to ensure wide participation of citizens in the process of preparing a new constitution, the government has printed special copies in Braille form for people with visual disabilities. Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Permanent Secretary Oliver Mhaiki said the 1, 500 copies cost 32m/- to print. Speaking at the handover ceremony in Dar es Salaam yesterday, he said the government will print even more copies to suite all groups of people with disabilities. “We received a request from blind people, we decided to print the copies in a form where the letters are printed as groups of raised dots that can be felt by fingures”, he said. Mhaiki said there are so many laws and regulations for people with disabilities but they don’t understand them. He added, “Hope they will now be able to contribute towards the new constitution”. Elaborating, he said his ministry in collaboration with the office of the Attorney General had embarked on the provision of civic education to different groups of people including people with disabilities. Meanwhile, Secretary General of the Voice of Disabled Women in Tanzania (SAUTA), Modesta Mpelembwa has thanked the ministry for providing them with the copies. “We are very happy for the books since we didn’t have opportunity to read the constitution for 509 years”, she said. She called upon other institutions to volunteer in printing more copies because there are so many people with disabilities in Tanzania. She said the 1, 500 copies would be distributed to their branches countrywide.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN