Joseph Project launched at Bono Manso

Bono Manso (B/A), July 30, GNA- Nana Owusu Gyare 11, Akwamuhene of Techiman Traditional Area, has advised the youth, especially those in Techiman and Nkoranza areas in Brong Ahafo Region to remain in the country and engage in decent income generating ventures. He expressed regret that most youth in the two areas aspired to undertake tortuous and hazardous journey across the Sahara Desert to European in search of menial jobs that they have labelled as greener pastures.

Nana Owusu was addressing a durbar of chiefs and people at Bono Manso, an ancient slave market in Nkoranza District of the Region to launch the Joseph Project.

He said "There is nothing more dignifying and more honourable than working in one's own country."

Nana Owusu noted that 200 years after the abolition slave trade, Africans were still enslaved by poverty, diseases, land and ethnic conflicts and disputes that had retarded progress and development. He said "The slave trade made Africans to lose our dignity and respect and it is pitiful to observe that the obnoxious trade is still rife as our able-bodied youth are streaming to European countries to sell themselves for menial jobs."

Nana Owusu said the sale of Africans into the Americas was fuelled by tribal wars and this made the continent to lose its skilled craftsmen and prominent community leaders.

"This was a major factor for Africa's current predicament of poverty, hunger and diseases among the people, which have forced out youth to leave the country in droves to search for relief in very dehumanising conditions abroad," Nana Owusu stated.

Mr. Yaw Adjei-Duffour, Kintampo South District Executive, enjoined traditional authorities and the youth to help eliminate chieftaincy disputes as they retard development.

He noted that chieftaincy, land and ethnic disputes, as well as diseases had resulted in perennial poverty amongst the people, and said it was time, "we rise up to these challenges."

Mr. Adjei-Duffuor expressed regret that despite the elimination of the obnoxious slave trade 200 years ago, "we are still enslaved by wars and conflicts, which have virtually made it impossible for us to harness our rich natural resources for accelerated development." He said the exploits of personalities including Ghana's first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Mr. Kofi Annan, immediate past Secretary General of the United Nations had proved that the African could equally rise up to the occasion.

Ms Victoria Antwi Sarpong of the Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations explained that the Joseph Project was aimed at luring Africans in the Diaspora "to come back home and help rebuild Africa." The Joseph Project has been initiated by the Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations to reconcile Africans in the Diaspora with their roots and the durbar was part of the celebration of the Panafest and Emancipation Day.

Wreaths were laid in memory of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Marcus Mosiah Garvey and Malcolm X, ancestors captured during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and kings and queen mothers of the ancient Bono Kingdom.

Monument in memory of Mrs. Rosa Parks, whose defiance against segregation sparked civil rights campaign in the United States of America, was also unveiled.