Citizens of Baare celebrate Daa festival

Baare (U/E) Oct 31, GNA - The Talensi-Nabdam District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Sebastian Bisnab, has stated that traditional cultural festivals, when well tapped and packaged could attract tourists to the country thereby creating jobs and enhancing the income status of Ghanaians.

The DCE made this observation on the occasion of the celebration of the 2005 "Daa" festival by the people of the Talensi Traditional Area at Baare near Bolgatanga.

The Daa Festival is an occasion during which the people of Talensi give thanks to God and the ancestors for the harvest of the year. It is also an occasion when sons and daughters resident outside the area travel back home to meet with their compatriots to deliberate on issues relating to the development of the area. Mr Bisnab said the newly-created district would do all it could to promote cultural festivals and certain good cultural practices in the district. This, he noted, would help generate employment and create wealth for the people.

He said whilst advocating for the promotion of festivals, there was the need for the organisers and the elders to be more development focused. He appealed to the people of the area, the Assembly and civil society to fashion out measures to address some of the numerous problems confronting the newly created district.

The DCE mentioned some of the problems, including the lack of potable water, poor road network as well as low incomes of the people resulting from low capital base.

The Chief of the area, Mr Sylvester Balangumyetime, appealed to the government to help distil the only dam in the area so as help retain the people, especially the youth and the women to do tomatoes and vegetables farming instead of migrating to the south in such of non-existent jobs.

The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Boniface Gambila, who attended the function, urged the citizens of the area to contribute their quota to the development of the area, saying that government alone cannot single-handedly address their needs.