Chiefs asked to support growth of Website

Offinso (Ash), Aug. 27, GNA- Mr Samuel Nkrumah-Gyimah, Deputy National Chairman of the National Commission on Culture (NCC), has called on chiefs and all pro-cultural institutions to support the growth of the website established by the Commission by constantly sending materials to update its contents.

He said without their active support the website could not achieve the intended objectives.

Mr Nkrumah-Gyimah said this at a durbar to mark the Ashanti regional festival of Arts and culture at Offinso on Friday. The occasion which was organised by the Ashanti Regional Centre for National Culture among other things served as a prelude to the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC), which comes off at Wa in the Upper West region in November this year.

Four paramount chiefs from Egyadam, Kokofu, Agona and Tepa as well as Queen Mothers, District Chief Executives, fetish priests and priestesses, cultural and choral performing groups attended the durbar. Mr Nkrumah-Gyimah congratulated the organisers of the durbar for their efforts and said festivals being core components of a people's way of life played significant roles in the promotion and development of culture.

He said the Commission would continue to collaborate with all relevant institutions, particularly the chieftaincy to harness the potentials of arts and culture for national development and for posterity.

Mr Nkrumah-Gyimah announced that the Commission intended to create cultural villages in all the districts nationwide, adding that each village would have an open-air theatre, conference hall, exhibition hall, offices, communication centre and children's village where traditional skills would be taught. He said the NCC would soon operate a Cultural Trust Fund to serve as an additional source of income to the Commission, which was a subverted institution.

Mr Samuel Adjei, Ashanti Regional Director of the Centre for National Culture, noted that the region stands tall when it comes to culture in Ghana and it was, therefore, no wonder that it was being refereed to as the Citadel of Culture in the country.

He said it was against this background that the Centre under the auspices of the Commission was organising the exposition to uphold and maintain the accolade with the sterling display of rich culture. Mr Adjei commended Nana Wiafe Akenten III, paramount chief of Offinso, for his long association with the centre and his exemplary role as a cultural ambassador of Asanteman and Ghana as a whole. Mr Adjei expressed the hope other chiefs would emulate this gesture with the view that the diverse cultures and arts in the region would not only unite the people but would also promote and strengthen socio-economic development of the country.

Nana Wiafe Akenten said the ancestors instituted the celebration of the various festivals and cultural activities as a way of preserving the traditional knowledge and way of life.

He said it was very important, therefore, that everything was done to preserve festivals, whose celebrations in recent times have become tourist attractions and source of revenue mobilisation.