Yilo Krobo celebrates Kloyosikplemi festival

Somanya, Nov. 13, GNA - President J.K. Kufuor has assured traditional rulers that his government would continue to create an enabling environment for them to play their complimentary roles for accelerated national development.

He stated that the 30 per cent of the total membership of district assemblies were appointed by the President in consultation with the traditional authorities and other interest groups in the area, was in recognition of the important roles traditional authorities play in national development.

President Kufuor assurance was contained in a speech read on his behalf by the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Yaw Barimah, at a durbar of the chiefs and people of the Yilo Krobo Traditional Area at Somanya on Saturday to mark the 10th anniversary of their Kloyosikplemi festival. The theme for the celebration was "Fighting Against Indiscipline, the Role of Traditional Authorities".

He commended the traditional authorities in the area for realizing that, indiscipline in the society was on the ascendancy and were prepared to join in the crusade to fight against the canker. President Kufuor recalled that the chieftaincy institution was not only for the custody of culture, customs and tradition of a people but also law giving and dispensing of justice, which could be of continued use in promoting discipline of society.

On the issue of the delay in the appointment of a District Chief Executive (DCE) for the district to accelerate development, he assured them that "very soon a nomination will be made for the post to steer affairs of Yilo Krobo District."

The president also said the upgrading of the local police station to a District Police Headquarters would be given consideration. He said to solve the accommodation problem facing civil servants in the country, the government was embarking on a housing project in all districts and appealed to chiefs and landowners to release land to the district assemblies for the implementation of the project.

As an attempt to solve the unemployment problem, President Kufuor announced that the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment would soon come out with a youth employment and job creation programme and said the availability of land was an essential component for implementation of the programme.

The acting DCE for Yilo Krobo, Mr Christian Kofi Tettey, said the assembly had been able to improve on the standard of living of the people through the provision of social facilities including school structures, financial and material support of the students, health facilities and roads rehabilitation.

He announced that the district would benefit from the sixth European Union (EU) Micro Project, for which it had provided 275 billion cedis for implementation, spanning 2006 to 2009.

He announced a District Employment Task Force would soon be formed to facilitate and mobilize the unemployed youth in the district, saying, a number of youth had been engaged in the assembly's 108-acre mango farm, which include a 50-acre maize farm, whose produce would be used to support the Government NEPAD free feeding for primary school children programme.

The Konor of Yilo Krobo, Kpetekple Narh Dawutey Ologo vi, in a welcoming address, said chiefs have important role to play in building a society that had no place for indiscipline behaviours and said the Yilo Krobo Traditional Council would soon come out with measures to curb such attitudes in the area.

He expressed his appreciation to President Kufuor for the numerous development projects that have been implemented in his district for the past four years, and said the contractors, who started working on Somanya town roads have resumed work after suspending work for several months.

He noted that the introduction of the capitation grant and the free feeding programmes were all aimed at encouraging parents, who because of financial constraints could not send their wards to school to achieve the education for all objective.

On security, Nene Dawutey Ologo said his area was developing, for which the number of police personnel was not enough to ensure safety and therefore, appealed to the authorities to upgrade the Somanya Police Station to a district status, saying, they were ready to co-operate with the police administration in this direction.

He appealed to government to re-nominate Sub/Lt. Christian Kofi Tettey as District Chief Executive, since his leadership and relationship was good to the masses.

The durbar attracted a number of paramount chiefs in the region, including the Daasebre Dr Oti Boateng of New Juaben, Nana Osei Nyarko of Boso-Gua, Nana Appiah Kumi of Anum, Nana Yaa Dani and Nana Akua Asantewaa, Queenmothers for New Juaben and Akim Oda traditional areas respectively.