CULTURAL NEWS
Monday, September 3, 2007
Second Homowo School held
Story: ANASTHASIA ESENAM DZOVOR, Amasaman
THE Second Annual Homowo School has been held with a call on traditional leaders to harmonise opportunities in traditional governance for local and national development.
The school, which is a four-day event, was attended by chiefs, queens and other traditional rulers in the Ga West District and beyond.
The programme was on the theme “Traditional Governance and Community Development: The Place of Traditional Authorities in Ghana’s New Local Government System”, and some of the topics discussed were the effect of conflict on national development and queens as tools for women’s empowerment.
Delivering a speech, Prof. Kodjo Senah of the Department of Sociology at the University of Ghana said it was important for traditional councils to be empowered with legal provisions and resources to carry out development at their levels.
“Today, without any prompting, chiefs and queens are themselves championing the course of development in their areas”, he said.
He commended the traditional leaders who were championing the cause of AIDS victims and orphans in the country and also for initiating scholarship schemes for brilliant, needy children in their community.
Prof. Senah appealed to traditional authorities to push for the restoration of lost traditional values that instilled discipline and morality in the youth.
He said where there was no peace, there could be no development even if the government poured all the nation’s resources into such conflict-prone areas.
The Omanhene of Essikado Traditional area, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, said many chiefs could not account for the properties they held in their trust for their community because “we have chiefs who are so obsessed with acquiring material wealth that they throw caution to the wind”.
He reminded such chiefs that they would be called upon by the youth to account for their stewardship.
The acting President of the Ga West District Chiefs Association (GWDCA), Nii Tettey Okpe 11, reminded the participants that Homowo was not only enjoyment of a feast and merry-making but also a system of reconciliation which attracted no penalty.
He called on the participants to be available for the community and to contribute anything to the effective running of their community.
*Source:
Daily Graphic - Monday, September 3, 2007 Page: 49
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