Bonwire begins kente festival celebration

Bonwire (Ash), Oct 11, GNA - Nana Bobie Ansah II, Bonwirehene, on Monday called on Ghanaians to discard the notion that kente weaving is a tedious enterprise and it is difficult to learn. He said the time had come to introduce kente weaving into technical and vocational school curriculum to demystify it to attract people from different parts of the country to learn and use it as their vocation.

Nana Ansah made the call at a symposium on the history of the kente cloth at Bonwire on Monday.

The symposium that attracted students from some senior secondary and basic schools in the area as well as some students and lecturers of the College of Art of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), was organised as part of activities marking the third kente festival of the chiefs and people of Bonwire in the Ejisu-Juaben District.

Nana Ansah said the weaving of the kente cloth by the people especially the youth from different towns and villages in the country would not only create jobs for them but would also help reduce its price.

He spoke against imitation of the original kente designs of the people of Bonwire by some textile companies in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire and said those imitations were affecting the image and reputation of the original kente cloth.

Nana Ansah appealed to the government to assist the people to patent the original kente designs in order to protect them from adulteration that could collapse the kente industry.

Nana Addai Yeboah, the Kentehene of Bonwire and a senior lecturer at KNUST, said the popularity of the kente cloth and the subsequent designation of Bonwire as tourist site imposed a huge challenge on the people to improve the socio-economic infrastructure in the town. The celebration of the festival, he said, was therefore to solicit for funds to undertake some development projects in the town. This included the construction of a museum, training of the youth of the original kente designs and weaving, as well as provision of potable water.

Nana Yeboah said the objective was to position Bonwire as one of the major tourist sites in the country.

Nana Nyarko Frimpomaa, Queen of Bonwire, who spoke on the history of Bonwire, said the town had played a leading role in the textile industry since it was the first town to provide clothes for the Kings of Ashanti before colonialism.

She called on the people to take active part in the celebration to ensure its success.