US Senator Enstooled

THE AKWAMU Traditional Council in the Eastern Region of Ghana has enstooled New York State Senator, Ms Ruth Hassell-Thompson, their Mpuntuhemaa (Queenmother for Development).

Her enstoolment as Mpuntuhemaa was to bring development to the people of Akwamu, taking into high consideration, children's education and the area at large.

Ms Hassell-Thompson, whose stool name was given, as Nana Addobea was first elected to the New York State Senate in 2000, bringing years of public service, community and business-related involvement to her post as the Senator of the 36th Senatorial District.

According to her biography, Nana Addobea currently represents parts of the Bronx as well as the Westchester counties.

Also a retired nurse of Mount Vernon Hospital (1963-1998), she specialized in pediatrics and assisted women with substance abuse issues. As part of her humanitarian endeavours, Nana Addobea was honoured with the "Unsung Heroes" award, presented by the AIDS Related Community Services (ARCS) organization due to working with "persons infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS".

Others included the "Joseph P. Gavrin Memorial Award for Personal Achievement and Contributions to the community by the Westchester Co-Op"; the "Sojourner Truth Racial Justice Award"; the Harriet Tubman Humanitarian Achievement Award" and many more.

Furthermore, she became an "ardent advocate and successfully, persuading members of both the public and private sectors to increase economic participation with minority and women owned businesses".

Addressing a durbar on Wednesday at the Akwamufie grounds, Nana Addobea stated that it would be her aim to ensure that children of the area get quality education since the educational system "here is not working for our children", pledging to adopt at least a school for the well being of the children.

"I hope I can bring the kind of energy that others will want to adopt a school as well to make sure that all the children have a good chance of better education", she noted.

In his address, the outgoing Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey emphasized that it was important to establish a platform which would "allow people abroad to workout exactly, from which villages they came from in Western Africa".

He said it was in this vein that the Joseph Project (JP) was instituted in 2002 by the Ghana government to help reunite African people, everywhere in the world, noting "until we are reunited, we can't bring all our powers to bare". "We need to do that if we are going to make the 21st, the African century", he stressed.

Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey stated that to become a "big man, we must learn to be ourselves, we must elevate ourselves and the way to do it is to reunite our families so that we can gather strength from each other".

He noted that there was a "concerted effort by the colonial masters to make us forget the past but the truth is surfacing" since "we have been able to find ourselves together again".

The outgoing Minister congratulated the traditional authority for welcoming the whole concept of having durbars that would "educate our citizens and the relationship between we who are still in our homeland and our anyemimei".

In a speech read for him by Nana Osae Nyampong VI-Kamenahene of the Akwamu Traditional Area, the Acting President of the Akwamu Traditional Council -Nana Amo Bekae IV stated that "we in Akwamu have given a written assurance to our siblings in Virgin Islands, our readiness to carve out portions of land for any project that they may want to undertake".

He mentioned that they were very important and essential part of "our collective future and civilization".

He emphasized that to an African family head, he was responsible to "protect the people or human resource and to protect our property which is mainly the land our forefathers left us", adding if "we failed in the first instance to protect our people during the era of slavery, then on their return, we should and will open our hearts and arms to welcome them".

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He cautioned the people of the area not to exploit their brothers and sisters (Anyemi) who had come home.

The District Chief Executive of Asuogyaman, Mr Emmanuel Ntow Bediako said in an interview with The Chronicle that the flame of unity signifies oneness among the people of Africa, Ghana, Akwamufie and the brothers and sisters from the Diaspora. "It is my prayer that the flame of unity will burn in our hearts and live with us", he added.

Also present to grace the occasion were the Omanhene of the area, Otumfuo Ansah Sasraku VI who has ruled for 15-years; the Queen mother Nana Afrakoma II; Nana Semanhyia Darko II-Gyasewahene of the Akwamu State.