Use festivals to create socio-economic partnerships — First Lady
The First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, has called on chiefs to use festivals to create the socio-economic partnerships needed to promote investment in their respective areas.
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She said as agents of development, traditional rulers had to play the lead role in bringing development to their areas as the days when chiefs led their people to the battlefield were long gone.
She said it was important for chiefs to partner the government, the municipal and district assemblies, non-governmental organisations, as well as the corporate world, to attract the needed development projects and programmes to their traditional areas.
Promote investment
Mrs Mahama, who is also the Sompahemaa of the Nkoranza Traditional Area, made the call when she joined the chiefs and people of Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region to celebrate this year’s annual Apoo Festival as the special guest of honour.
A grand durbar of chiefs and people of Techiman and its environs was held at the forecourt of the Ohene Ameyaw Palace to climax the celebration.
The Ghana Chapter of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission and the Lordina Foundation, also organised free breast cancer screening for women and mothers in the town and its environs.
Wide patronage
Mrs Mahama indicated that the Apoo Festival was one of the major festivals celebrated by the people of Brong Ahafo, which attracts wide patronage by both indigenes and foreigners.
According to her, festivals were significant occasions in the lives of people and societies and served as link between the past and present, adding that they reminded people of their history, traditions and values and urged them to use the festival to promote their rich culture as it was a platform for tourism in the region.
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Apoo Festival
She said the Apoo Festival was unique in the sense that it provided the people of Techiman a unique opportunity to get “things off their chests” and it was also a safe period to get rid of grievances that they had harboured throughout the year and also give praise where praise was due.
She, however, reminded the people that such social interactions came with risks, especially for a major commercial transit point such as Techiman and, therefore, urged them to be conscious of the health and social risks that they were likely to be exposed to.
Mrs Mahama gave an assurance that as chairperson of OAFLA and Head of the Lordina Foundation, she would continue to partner chiefs, queenmothers and religious leaders in the fight against cervical and breast cancers, saying that “early detection and treatment is the key”.
Traditional rulers
She also reiterated her call on parents, traditional rulers and religious leaders to put their efforts together to end child marriages in Ghana.
She said the government would continue to invest a lot of resources in health, education and road infrastructure, and accelerate programmes to improve livelihoods, reduce poverty and disease and create employment for the people.
“Today as we celebrate yet another Apoo Festival and pay homage to our traditional authorities and make merry, we also look forward to the future with renewed hope and aspirations,” she said.
Peaceful elections
The First Lady also used the occasion to appeal to the people to help ensure a successful general election in November this year in an environment of peace and security.
The Omanhene of the Techiman Traditional Area, Oseadeayo Akumfi Ameyaw IV, who chaired the occasion, expressed his appreciation to the government for the numerous school and road infrastructure projects being executed in the town in particular and the region as a whole.
He said the festival offered the youth the opportunity to learn at first-hand traditional dressing, drumming and dancing outside the classroom environment. The Apoo Festival is a period for the celebration of cultural values, traditional practices and projecting the rich cultural heritage of the Bono people to Ghana and the rest of the world.
Nana Wiafe Akenten III, the Omanhene of the Offinso Traditional Area in the Ashanti Region, who graced the occasion, commended the government for the various development projects being undertaken in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), appealed to the chiefs to properly plan the Apoo Festival to attract the right investors to the area for the needed development.