Festivals promote development — Mrs Benyiwa-Doe
A member of the Council of State, Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe, has underscored the importance of festivals towards national and cultural development.
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Addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Mankessim Traditional Area to climax the celebration of Borbor Mfantse Akwanbo festival at the weekend, Mrs Benyiwa-Doe expressed regret at the attitude of people who out of selfish interest, used litigations to prevent celebration of festivals and said such people did a lot of harm to their communities.
She expressed concern about how Ghanaian languages were being diluted with foreign languages.
“Some Ghanaians cannot speak a sentence of their own dialect without using a foreign language,” she said.
Mrs Benyiwa-Doe urged Ghanaians not to abandon the extended family system because it helped to keep families together.
She said the neglect of the system had contributed to the ever increasing number of children at homes and street children as family members cared less about the children of their deceased members.
Mr Samuel Sarpong, Central Regional Minister, was happy with the efforts of the Mankessim Traditional Council to promote education.
He said the government was committed to the delivery of quality education to the Ghanaian children who would become useful citizens to their families and the nation as a whole.
The regional minister said the Central Regional Development Commission (CEDECOM) had instituted a measure to support financially, pineapple growers and the co-ordinating council was negotiating with a university in America for support for vegetable growers in the region.
Mr Henry Kweku Hayfron, Municipal Chief Executive for the area, expressed concern about traders taking over the streets around the roundabout for trading purposes and said they were doing that at the risk of their lives.
He said the assembly was constructing additional stalls and walkways to prevent the traders from using the streets.
The MCE appealed to the people to stop using the fountain being constructed at the roundabout as a place for displaying their wares as it made the place an eye-sore.
Osagyefo Amanfo Edu VI, Omanhen of Mankessim Traditional Area, said he had instituted educational excellence award to motivate students and teachers to give off their best.
He said the award was necessitated by the fact that the performance of students in the area kept on falling in the recent years.
Two students in the basic, five in senior high school, two teachers in the basic, one in primary and one junior high schools were presented with awards made up of cash and items including flat screen televisions, standing fans and framed citations.
Nana Ama Amissah III, the Queen of the traditional area, appealed to the government to improve drainage system at Mankessim, to prevent regular floodings.
She called on the people to stop retarding progress through unnecessary litigations and help to develop the area.-
Source: GNA