Oguaa chiefs move to contain social vices

Chiefs of the Oguaa Traditional Area have resolved to work to contain the growing incidence of child prostitution and other social vices in the area.

At the launch of this year’s Fetu Festival last Friday, the Omanhen of Ogua, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, admitted that the situation where young girls, in particular, were engaged in immoral behaviours needed prompt action to contain it and salvage the future of the youth in the metropolis.

Osabarima Kwesi Atta said the traditional council would work together with bar operators that had become fertile grounds for such vices.

Fetu Festival

This year’s Fetu Festival would be celebrated towards the end of August and  would be climaxed on the first Saturday of September.

The Fetu Festival is celebrated annually by the Oguaa people of Cape Coast because in the past there was an outbreak of disease among the people that killed many. 

The people prayed to the gods to help them get rid of the disease. Thus the festival is celebrated to keep the town clean and to prevent another epidemic from befalling them.

The theme for this year’s festival is “Nurturing the younger generation to take up the mantle of leadership.”

Osabarima Kwesi Atta said the police and the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA) and parents would also be involved in the fight against the menace.

He said that the metropolis would require responsible youth to take up its leadership, saying all stakeholders would be involved to ensure the fight was won.

The Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mrs Priscilla Arhin Korankye, said it was worrying that some parents had not fully supported efforts made by the CCMA and the police to check promiscuity among the youth in the area.

“Some parents are aware their children are engaged in these negative practices but they don’t even care. They insulted the CCMA when efforts were made to get the children to behave more responsibly” she stated.

Mrs Korankye said that such practices had over the years affected the quality of education at the basic level and prevented many of them from gaining admission to the prestigious schools in the metropolis.

She pledged that the CCMA would help to ensure that the incidence was reduced.

Dr Davis Essaw, a lecturer at the Institute of Development Studies of the University of Cape Coast, said the children needed role models or mentors to help mould them into responsible adults.

However, he said  that the youth must be humble enough to learn and be ready to submit to authority for them to acquire the desired leadership traits.