Let’s Protect Our Rich Culture – Akatsi North MP Tells Youth

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Akatsi-North Constituency, Mr. Peter Nortsu Kotoe has stressed the need for Ghanaian youth to take advantage of the annual festivals celebrated in their respective traditional areas.

This, he said, would help them to learn about their rich cultural practices upon which the very foundations of their communities were built, to enable them cherish and protect such practices for the benefit of the present and future generations.

Mr. Nortsu Kotoe stressed that valuable cultural practices form the basis for rapid development, saying any community that experiences fast development were those that ensured that developments were executed with much attention given to the culture values of the people.

The MP observed that festivals have become one of the major sources of mobilizing material and human resources for development, as well as means to settle misunderstandings and unite the people to forge ahead in building a healthy society.

He added that peace was relevant to the development of every society therefore festival celebrations should be strengthened to help in promoting socio-cultural values as well as economic growth of communities.

Akatsi-North MP, who was speaking at a durbar to climax week long activities to mark this year's “Amesikpe” festival of the chiefs and people of the Ave-Dakpa Traditional area over the weekend, pointed out that the festival equally served as homecoming, where citizens living abroad would come and support developmental activities and socialize with family members and friends.

He urged the youth to value the cultural practices in the country and use them to support their growth in order to become responsible adults in the future stressing that the adoption of foreign cultures would not help them because those practices have little or no importance to the society. Continuing, the legislator noted that there was the need for the youth to take the knowledge being impacted into them more seriously, which will go a long way to ensure they get a bright future.

He pointed out that as the District capital of the Akatsi-North District, Ave-Dakpa has many responsibilities, for example, to ensure that social amenities and accommodation among others, were available for the people in the area, noting that would help motivate the staff of the Assembly to stay and work more efficiently than they are doing currently.

The MP said one most important thing the people in the area should uphold was the prevailing peace, stressing that the security of the people was much relevant to achieving the needed development because with the existing peace where they could go about their economic activities without any fear must be maintain.

Mr. Nortsu-Kotoe disclosed that he was in collaboration with the chiefs of the area to build a modern palace for the Paramount Chief as a means of giving a face lift to the paramountcy.

To this end, he continued efforts were being made to raise funds to help him (MP) to ensure that in addition to the financial support that he would provide, such fund raising activities would help start and complete the project within a specified period of time.

The MP for Central Tongu, Mr. Alex Gabby Hotorwodze lauded the effective collaboration between the chiefs and people of Ave-Dakpa and the Bakpa Traditional area, in the Central Tongu District who, he said were one people at their ancestral home, Nortse, but separated after they migrated to their current locations.

Mr. Hotorwodze explained that the reunion of the people of Bakpa and Ave-Dakpa through the celebration of festivals that the two traditional areas participate would not only strengthen relations between them, but also help in the promotion of development activities of common interest to the people.

The Central Tongu MP said the youth serve as the hope of the people, therefore young people, particularly from Bakpa and Ave-Dakpa should refrain from indulging in negative practices likely to affect their future development, saying there was the need for them to distance themselves from all forms of vices, which were likely to prevent them from becoming responsible adults in future.

He also urged the youth, particularly girls to emulate people in their communities who have achieved successes, as their role models to enable them to aspire to be like them, noting that it called for determination and hard work to become a responsible adult in the future.

The Paramount Chief of the Ave-Dakpa Traditional area, Togbui Nyamekor Glakpe V said he was elated by the re-union of the peoples of Ave-Dakpa and Bakpa traditional areas, noting that they were once one people but separated as a result of their migration from Nortse to their current homes.

It was his hope that the re-union would go a long way to enhance the socio-cultural development of the two traditional areas.

From Samuel Agbewode, Ave-Dakpa