The people of the Osudoku Traditional Area in the Shai-Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region have held a state reconciliation durbar at Osuwem with a call on the people to forge ahead in unity for accelerated development.
The Osudoku Traditional area is made up of eight divisions, namely: Dorsi, Gbese Dorm, Gbese Terkuorsi, Gbese Kpono, Lanor, Kasunya, Tsangmer and Klekpa, with the traditional capital at Osuwem.
The programme, which was on the theme: "Reconciliation for healing wounds and for development of Osudoku," was attended by divisional chiefs, queen mothers, opinion leaders, clergy and youth groups.
The Nene Animle Borborbor and Nene Animle Obonu groups entertained the gathering to the admiration of all.
The reconciliation durbar was also to call for unity and reconciliation ahead of the final funeral rites of their late Paramount Chief, Aadegbor Ngmongmowuyaa Kwesi Animle VI, who had passed on.
Apology
Addressing the people at the durbar, the new Paramount Chief of the area, Nene Kweku-Otiti Animle VII, apologised to all who might have been hurt, offended, neglected or wronged during the reign of the late paramount chief.
"If harsh words were spoken, forgive.
If misunderstandings arose, forgive.
If wounds were created, let healing begin today.
If divisions emerged among brothers and sisters, let them end here and now.
"Our traditions as Dangmes teach us that death must not become the reason for permanent divisions among a people.
Rather, it should remind us of our shared humanity, our mortality and the importance of peace.
Bury bitterness
"Today, as the paramount chief and father of this great traditional area, I stand before you with humility and sincerity that, on behalf of the Osudoku stool, the palace and the family of our late chief, I offer my heartfelt apologies to anyone who may have felt hurt, offended, neglected or wronged during his reign.
"Let us, therefore, bury every bitterness together with the past. Let us bury anger. Let us bury suspicion. Let us bury hatred``.
Nene Animle said reconciliation was not a show of weakness but strength, wisdom and leadership, adding the future of the Osudoku State depended not on who was right or wrong in the past, but on whether all could rise above their difference for the sake of generations yet unborn".
In a short word of exhortation at the programme, a member of the Pan Africa Ministry Association (PAMA) and also a member of the Apostolic Church Ghana, Rev. Eric Teye Nortey, using Psalm 133:1 and Nehemiah 3:28, stressed the need for cohesion of all the eight gates of the Osudoku State as the only way for development.
ADR
Rev. Nortey also advised the Osudoku State that, for the sake of peace, unity, and traditional governance, they must begin resolving their chieftaincy and other disputes in court through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and internal mechanisms to strengthen collaboration between the eight Gates, or divisions and the paramount stool.
As part of the reconciliation exercise, Nene Animle offered a cow and sheep, which were shared among the homes of the eight Gates, signifying unity and togetherness.
