Kufuor Kente Outdoored

ADANWOMASE WEAVERS Association has outdoored a new Kente cloth designed in honour of President John Agyekum Kufuor at a colourful durbar at the Centre for National Culture in Kumasi on Thursday, January 31st.

Adanwomase is a town in the Kwabre District of the Ashanti Region with Kente weaving as its main occupation.

The specially designed Kente fabric, dubbed 'Kufuor Apegya Ghana', was outdoored in honour of President Kufuor in recognition of the numerous contributions he has made nationally and within the international community.

About 50 years ago, the Kente Weavers of Ghana, led by the Adanwomase Weavers Association, honoured the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah with a Kente cloth by name, 'Fathia Fata Nkrumah' in a similar colourful ceremony.

'Fathia Fata Nkrumah' fabric has since been recognized as one of the most beautiful and intricate designs in the Kente world.

Nana Asante Frimpong, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), in a keynote address, commended the Adanwomase Kente Weavers for preserving and promoting “this great Ghanaian cultural heritage”.

Nana Frimpong, giving brief history of the Kente fabric, said the best move any rival outside Ghana has been able to make against the Kente industry was to photocopy the design.

According to him, Kente was not ordinary cloth for Ghanaians to wear on all kinds of occasions, and that it was special cloth that used to be exclusive to royalty. He said even today, Ghanaians wearing Kente could easily be identified at international gatherings.

Nana Frimpong said Kente has now achieved tremendous international recognition, and evolved into one of the most tangible manifestations of an ever growing sense of Pan African unity.

He said although Bonwire, a town in the Ashanti Region, is known all over the world as a Kente weaving village, there are other towns in the neighbourhood of Bonwire which are similarly acknowledged.

Nana Frimpong said as the past and present Presidents of Ghana have found it necessary and expedient to wear Kente on auspicious occasions, Ghanaians should declare Kente as the country's national cloth.

He said it would also be appropriate as a way of promoting Kente to the status of national cultural heritage.

Nana Frimpong called on the Ministry of Culture to bring together the Asante and Ewe Kente Weavers to form a national association so as to properly promote the Kente industry.

The Chairman of the Adanwomase Weavers Association, Nana Osei Tutu, said people of Adanwomase have had a long tradition of making Kente for important personalities.

He said President Kufuor's successful administration was what encouraged them to design the special Kente cloth in his honour as their forefathers had done for Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. Emmanuel Owusu Ansah, appealed to Ghanaians to cease using Kente cloth for decorations, as such a practice destroys the uniqueness of the cloth.
From Stella Danso, Kumasi