Dagbon celebrates Damba festival in peace

The Tamale Metropolis and Dagbon Traditional Area as a whole has for the first time in many years recorded a peaceful performance and celebration of the Damba Festival, which was previously associated with violence.

Even though the weeklong festivity recorded an unprecedented number of participants, the stakeholders, including the traditional authorities, the security and the youth in particular, played their roles responsibly to make the festival a memorable one.

The New Chief of Tamale, Naa Dakpema Mahamadu Dawuni used the occasion to call on all citizens living in the Tamale Metropolis and beyond to give peace a chance so as to bring meaningful development to the area.

“I am very optimistic that if all of us put our heads together we can make Tamale, which is reported to be the fastest developing city in the West African sub-region a beautiful and a peaceful place for all of all us to reside in”.

He noted that without peace, all attempts being made by the government, individuals and civil society groups to bridge the yawning gap between the north and the south would be an exercise in futility.

In a speech read on his behalf by Alhassan Basharu Daballi, Secretary to the chief, Naa Dakpema Dawuni assured the people of Tamale that he would be a father to all the people both residents and non-residents but was however quick to add that he would not tolerate any form of indiscipline in the society.

The newly installed Tamale chief, therefore, urged all citizens living in Tamale to cooperate with the traditional authority, the security agencies, the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly and other development partners to maintain law and order in the area.

Touching on the low level of education in the area, Naa Dakpema Dawuni challenged parents to consider sending their children of school going age, especially the girl child to school.

This, in his estimation, would go a long way to boost the area's human resource base needed to accelerate its socio-economic development. To achieve this noble dream, the Chief unveiled his plans of mobilizing funds to launch what he termed the “Dakpema Education Endowment Fund” to assist needy but brilliant students, especially the girl child.

He therefore, appealed to the government, individuals and corporate bodies to meaningfully contribute to the fund when it becomes operational to give a helping hand to the needy. Naa Dakpema Dawuni disclosed that he would soon launch “Tamale Peace Fund” to ensure accelerated development.

The chief appealed to the National Disaster Management Organization, individuals, Non Governmental Organizations and corporate bodies to come to the aid of the affected victims of the recent rainstorm disaster that hit the Tamale Metropolis and displaced over 2,000 people.