Damongo, Oct. 10, GNA - The Paramount Chief of the Gonja Traditional Area, Yagbon-wura Doshie Bawa Abudu I, on Saturday called on the Guan Chiefs to consider the formation of a Council of Guan chiefs help the Guan Congress advance the developmental and the socio-cultural renaissance needs of the people.
He was speaking at the sixth National Congress of the Chiefs and people of the 28 Guan speaking communities in the country in Damongo in the West Gonja District of the Northern Region.
The meeting was aimed at strengthening a common cultural identity and to foster unity among Guans towards the socio-economic advancement of Guans who can be found in the Northern, Volta, Eastern, Central and Brong-Ahafo Regions of the country.
Yagbon-wura Abudu said the people of the Gonajaland were thankful to the government for creating two news districts within the Gonja Traditional Area to facilitate the development of the area.
He reiterated his call on the government to create one or two administrative regions out of the present Northern Region due to its vastness to enhance the development of that part of the country. Yagbon-wura Abudu asked the government to repair roads linking Damongo, the district capital to facilitate socio-economic activities.
"The Gonjaland is a very vast area that is abound with many known tourist attractions and such the Larabanga Mosque and mystic stone and the Mole National Park, which is about 5,500 hectares and is the largest and one of the best game and wildlife parks in West Africa whose potentials are not fully exploited to due poor road network".
Yagbon-wura Abudu said the West Gonja District was also endowed with gold, iron, limestone, clay and tourist sites including the Kenikeni and Yakombo forest reserves while both the black and white Volta Rivers that drain through the district have the potentials for irrigation, water transport and fishing.
He, therefore, expressed his displeasure at the quality and the slow pace of work on the re-gravelling of the Fufulso -Damongo-Sawla junction road.
The Yagbon-wura called on the government to ensure that work on the road was completed as scheduled saying, "This is the only link road that connects the Northern Region to the Upper West Region".
He also appealed to the government to construct irrigation dams on rivers in the area to encourage all year round food production. On education, Yagbon-wura Abudu urged the government to establish a Teacher Training college in the area to help train teachers to promote education in the Gonjaland.
He expressed concern about the delay in executing work on Dakrupe and Kilbilma gold mining and the Buipe limestone concessions and appealed to the government to ensure that the companies working on the concessions start mining to create jobs for the youth.
The Yagbon-wura called for the resettlement of displaced persons in the Kpandai area who were affected by the 1992 and 1994 ethnic conflicts. On the 2004 General Elections, Yagbon-wura Abudu appealed politicians to be tolerant of each other's views and create an enabling environment for peaceful elections.
Mr Kwame Ampene, a Guan patriot and a historian in reaction to the challenging assertion by Dr J.E.C. Sutto in 1979 at a historical seminar at Legon that, "In Ghana the Guan as a people do not exist, but what do exist are some 15 communities with related languages" advocated the creating of a platform for the unification of the Guan speaking people.
