Bolga-Naba Urges Peaceful Coexistence, as Traditional Area Celebrates Adakoya Festival

February 15, 2010
Bolgatanga, Feb. 15, GNA - Bolga-Naba Martin Abilba III, Paramount Chief of the Bolgatanga Traditional Area, at the weekend enjoined residents of the area to live together in harmony, saying the development they craved for could only thrive in an atmosphere of peace.

He observed that because Bolgatanga was fast gaining the reputation as a haven of tranquility, various ethnic groups from all over the country continued to settle in the area, and stressed the need for all to coexist peacefully.

The Bolga-Naba was speaking at this year's "Adakoya" Festival of the chiefs and people of the area in Bolgatanga.

The festival which is observed after the harvest season every year, is an occasion during which the people of the area give thanks to God and their ancestors for seeing them through a successful farming season. It also provides an opportunity for the sons and daughters of the area to come together to deliberate on issues pertaining to development.

The Paramount Chief said chiefs and elders of the Traditional Area had embarked on a campaign to stamp out negative cultural practices including female genital mutilation and tribal marks, which he described as out-moded and dehumanising.

They had also entered into discussions towards a review of the traditional dowry system, which currently requires the payment of four cows as bride price, to bring it into conformity with modern day realities. "Making the dowry affordable would enable many more youngmen and women to contract marriages properly and live decent lives," he said.

The Bolga-Naba commended the present Government for its decision to continue with pro-poor policies such as the Capitation Grant and School Feeding programme rather than abandon them for political expediency, adding that "The NDC Government also deserves our applause for taking the burden off parents with the introduction of free school uniform and textbooks".

He also praised Government for the area's physical development including the provision of roads, schools and social amenities, and expressed the hope that the area would continue to get its fair share of the national cake to enable it to live up to the standard befitting the status of a Municipality.

While noting that tourism had become a major foreign exchange earner for the country, Naba Abilba enjoined residents of the area to maintain a clean environment to enable the Bolgatanga Municipality to reap maximum benefits from the area's huge tourism potential.

He commended the Regional Co-ordinating Council and the security agencies for their role in maintaining law and order, without which the development of the Region would have been impossible.

GNA