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Nene Kabu Abram Akuaku III welcoming President Mahama to the durbar.Pictures: EBOW HANSON
Nene Kabu Abram Akuaku III welcoming President Mahama to the durbar.Pictures: EBOW HANSON

Prez Mahama attends Mepe, Ada festivals

President John Dramani Mahama has urged traditional authorities to continue to use festivals as a platform for development. He said apart from showcasing the rich culture and traditions of the people, festivals offered opportunity for chiefs and people to plan development projects for their communities. 

President Mahama gave the advice when he attended two festivals; at Mepe in the Volta Region and Ada in the Greater Accra Region last Saturday.

The President's first stop was Mepe in the North Tongu District where he joined the chiefs and people to celebrate their annual Apenorto Festival.

It was the 62nd edition of the festival. The celebration which drew a number of people, both residents and non-residents, to the durbar grounds was on the theme: “Quality education; key to socio-economic transformation of North Tongu.”

The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu and Deputy Minister of Education, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa; the Minister and Deputy Minister of  Transport, Fiifi Kwettey and Joyce Bawah Mogtari respectively; Mr Prosper Douglas Bani, Minister of the Interior; Col Gbevlo Lartey, a former National Security Coordinator and other government functionaries graced the colourful ceremony.

Development 

President Mahama touched on the development projects in the area and the Volta Region at large, and said a lot had been done.

He said the government would continue to extend development projects to the people to improve their standard of living.

He commended the chiefs and people of Mepe for maintaining the peace in the area.

Togbe Kwasi Nego VI, Makrado of Mepe Traditional Area, thanked the President for honouring their invitation to attend the festival and commended him for the many initiatives to develop the area.

From Mepe the President attended the Asafutufiami Festival at Ada which was celebrated on the theme: “Preserving cultural heritage for ecotourism development.”

The annual festival is celebrated mainly in remembrance of the heroics of the founding fathers and ancestors of the area during the wars of survival and development of the Ada people.

President Mahama noted that apart from the merrymaking associated with the festival, the main focus of the festival continued to be the development of the Ada State.

He congratulated the chiefs for that focus and gave an assurance that the government would continue to ensure that Ada got its fair share of development. 

The President commended the chiefs for the initiative to resolve their differences.

He expressed delight that the issue that led to some part of the Ada State refusing to pledge allegiance to the paramount chief had been resolved.

The move, he said, had opened the door for all the clans to pledge their allegiance to the paramount chief, Nene Abram Akuako III.

"This is a good thing and in unity lies strength," he said.

Ada Paramount Chief

Nene Kabu Abram Akuaku lll, Paramount Chief of the Ada Traditional Area, in his welcome address, commended the government for the efforts it had made to contain the sea erosion which had eaten into a large part of Ada’s industrial and commercial coastline over the years.

He, however, asked the government to extend the implementation of the phase one of the sea defence project since areas such as the Songor Lagoon and other important areas were highly threatened by the sea erosion.

He called on the President to make frantic efforts towards the implementation of the master plan for the development of the Songor Lagoon.

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