Agogo holds durbar to welcome Omanhene

Agogo, Jan. 11, GNA - The Omanhene of Agogo Traditional Area, Nana Kwame Akuoko Sarpong, has charged the people of Agogo to take advantage of the construction of the Afram Plains Super Highway to push the development agenda of the area forward.

He said the road, which would open up the eastern corridor all the way from Ho through Ejura to the northern part of the country, had great agricultural prospects from which Agogo stood to gain. Nana Akuoko Sarpong made these points at a mini durbar held at Agogo t= o welcome him back to his domain after more than a year's absence. He commended the citizens of Agogo for their continued prayers for him during a difficult period.

"I just had enough energy to enable me to make the trip for you to s= ee me physically and God willing I will continue to offer the necessary leadership until I can go no more. I actually broke off from my treatment i= n Accra to come back home and share the joy of the season with you, which als= o coincides with the 35th anniversary of my ascension to the Agogo stool," he stressed.

Nana Akuoko Sarpong had earlier on met separately with the various religious leaders and other opinion leaders in the community before the durbar to let them know that they were part of the community leadership. He said traditional rule could not survive without bringing on board religious and opinion leaders, adding that chieftaincy was an indispensable part of governance and must be regarded as such.

Touching on the future prospects of Agogo, the Omanhene said the peopl= e stood blessed because they were on the verge of a new beginning since the Afram Plains, conceived as the nation's bread basket, had now become a reality.

He said Agogo was at the centre of the new super highway of rail and road networks which was being funded by the Millennium Challenge Account an= d the Government of Ghana and from which food was going to be produced in abundance for home consumption and export.

"A number of companies have already started large scale food product= ion and processing for export," Nana Akuoku Sarpong explained. He called for unity among all Agogo citizens, stressing the need for the Moslem chiefs to work closely with the traditional leadership to manage the lives of people who will migrate to Agogo from the North and other places to seek greener pastures.

"I want to see peaceful co-existence in my domain. If Agogo has made progress during the past 35 years under my leadership it is because of the peace and unity we are enjoying and I want this to continue even after I have joined my ancestors," he pointed out. "That is what I have always fought for in my life as a traditional r= ule and also a former politician," he said. Nana Akuoko Sarpong urged the community leadership to take education seriously since it was the key to progress, and that the legacy he would leave behind was the contribution he had made to the development of education in the Agogo Traditional Area. At the same durbar, The Rev Kofi Antwi of the Presbyterian Church in Agogo praised the untiring efforts of Nana Akuoko Sarpong in establishing many educational institutions in Agogo.