Agotime celebrates Kente Festival
The people of Agotime Traditional area in the Volta Region have celebrated this year’s Kente Festival, with a call for the patenting of kente and a rebranding project to uphold the economic and cultural values of the people.
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The Osie of Avatime, Togbe AdzaTekpor VII, who made the call, said the patent would protect the values and designs of kente and avoid imitations.
He was speaking at the 2016 edition of the Kente Festival, known as the “Agbamevorza” of the people of Agotime Traditional Area in the Agotime–Ziope District of the Volta Region last Saturday.
Agotime has the highest concentration of kente weavers in West Africa and kente weaving is a major source of livelihood of the people.
The festival was on the theme: “Projecting the cultural values of kente for unity and development.”
The celebration was to preserve and protect the cultural and aesthetic values of the kente cloth and project the various uses of the cloth as costumes and regalia.
It was also designed to expose new techniques and innovations in the kente Industry and attract tourists to the Agotime Traditional Area.
Globally, kente is regarded as one of the best hand woven textiles. It symbolises the identity of the Ghanaian and evokes powerful emotions among the citizenry.
Rebranding
Togbe Tekpor urged the people to link up with industry to ensure that the values of kente were established as a commodity to be cherished on the local and international markets.
On the issue of rebranding, the Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Capital, Mr Alex Bruks, said the future was bright for the production and marketing of kente.
He, however, called for the establishment of a museum, weaving centre and a market place where prospective buyers could buy directly from producers.
He said there was the need for private sector participation to strategise in the rebranding of Kente by helping to formulate a marketing plan with the weavers.
Mr Alex Segbefia, Minister of Health showcasing a rich Kente cloth at the festival.
Preservation of kente
The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu–Agyare, said the area had become a preferred destination for tourist, hence the need for new techniques to constantly upgrade the commodity.
She asked the people to support the ministry to develop more and viable programmes for the domestic tourism sector, adding that the creative sector had assumed a vibrant posture because more and more people were patronising local tourists sites now than before.
Ms Helen Ntoso (right) Volta regional Minister, Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare (2nd right), Tourism Minister and some other dignitaries arriving at the durbar grounds.
She advised the youth to stay in the communities instead of travelling to the big cities to look for non-existent white collar jobs.
Tourism and revenue
The Volta Regional Minister, Ms Helen Adjoa Ntoso urged district assemblies to team up with traditional authorities to harness the potential of generating revenue from such tourist attractions.
She said they should engage in dialogue with stakeholders to devise strategies which were attractive to tourists, urging them not to leave the task to the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) because the central government was prepared to support local initiatives to boost tourism.
The regional minister warned communities along the country’s to desist from the smuggling of fuel and cocoa because it was causing the loss of resources which would have been used for development and the provision of social amenities for the people.
Ms Ntoso advised the youth to resist approaches by political parties to use them to cause trouble during the electioneering season.
Some queen mothers arriving at the durbar in their rich Kente cloth.
Potable water
In a welcome address, the Konor of Agotime, Nene Nuer Keteku III, appealed to the government to expedite action on the extension of potable water supply from the Adidome water project to the people of Agotime.
He said the time wasted by the people looking for potable water for domestic use virtually affected productivity.