Gbese celebrates Homowo
The Gbese Mantse and Adonten of the Ga State, Nii Ayi-Bontey II, has called on the people of Gamashie not to concentrate too much on the desire for wealth and material possessions but rather invest in their children’s education for a better future.
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He said the future belonged to the youth and as such it was incumbent on parents to devote their time and hard-earned resources to the proper upbringing of their children rather than engage in ostentatious lifestyles.
Nii Ayi-Bontey II spoke against the way funerals were planned and observed in Ga communities these days. He said the introduction of foreign practices in the observance of funerals was making people poor. “Why should you buy new cloths, necklaces, bracelets, earrings and other jewellery for every social occasion, at the expense of your children’s school fees,” he queried.
Homowo celebration
Dressed as usual in a red cloth signifying his regard for the occasion, the Gbese Mantse, amid pomp and circumstances, led other traditional leaders and the people to the Ussher Fort at James Town, where he performed some customary initiations and sprinkled ‘Kpoikpoi’, a traditional food of the Ga people.
Concerns
Nii Ayi-Bontey II urged the people of Gamashie to adopt good waste management practices to avert diseases such as cholera.
He called on the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to intensify its supervisory role in ensuring that waste management companies lived up to their mandate. He further urged the assembly to provide the community with sanitary equipment, including wheelbarrows, brooms, and shovels to help them in cleaning the environment.
The Gbese Mantse also entreated government to complete the Salaga Market in James Town which had been abandoned for years. He said if the market was completed, it would prevent traders in the market from selling on the street, as well as expose the nefarious activities of sex workers, thieves and vagrants who take advantage of the messy nature of the place to engage in wrongful acts.
Educational fund
The Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Odododiodio Constituency, Nii Lantey Vanderpuije, said an education fund would be set up by September this year to support the youth to gain employable skills.
The fund, he said, would also assist brilliant, needy students. In addition, he said school dropouts might access and receive seed money and equipment to pursue trades in tailoring, dressmaking and hairdressing.
He said he would cooperate with the chiefs in fighting poverty and insanitary conditions and would promote education among the people. Nii Vanderpuije used the occasion to call on the Ga people, both home and abroad, to support the proposed education fund.