The beauty of the celebration stemmed from the fact that not long ago, the people of Adaklu swore never to have anything to do with Kpetoe, which was selected instead of Waya as the capital of the Adaklu-Anyigbe District.

Thus, the creation of the Adaklu Anyigbe District, to enhance and accelerate the development of the area, became enmeshed in an intractable controversy and nearly embroiled the traditional councils in a fruitless dispute.

The people of Adaklu, feeling cheated because their traditional council was bigger and more populated than the Agotime area, swore never to have anything to do with the new district, in the hope that that could have crippled the processes and forced a change in government policy.

At the height of the conflict, there was internal strife within the Adaklu Traditional Council, as some of the chiefs and youth took issue with all those who counseled tolerance and the acceptance of Kpetoe as the district capital.

Indeed, matters were not helped on the political front when Parliament which had originally passed a legislative instrument naming Adaklu-Waya as the district capital had to renege on that and pass another instrument which had Kpetoe as the capital.

In law, a later legislative takes precedence over an earlier one. It thus meant that Kpetoe was the legitimate and lawful capital of the Adaklu-Anyigbe District.

Despite this legal certainty, President Kufour had to fall on the Volta Region House of Chiefs to intervene in the matter and help defuse tension and calm the nerves of the Adaklus. The intervention resulted in the expression of support for the choice of Kpetoe.

The people of Adaklu did not relent nor budge. They felt cheated and resolved never to have anything to do with the district. They even went a step further in attempting to prevent some of their citizens from serving in the Assembly.

Further, they rejected health and education materials for children in their area because they felt accepting and using the supplies would have meant that they had lost the battle and accepted Kpetoe as their capital.

In one particular incident, some unscrupulous individuals, purporting to be acting on behalf of the people, attacked some innocent public servants whom they accused of being suspected armed robbers, resulting in the death of one and the escape of the others.

But, time, they say, heals. How true that is, it was joy seeing Togbe Atsa at Kpetoe, not only that, but also chairing a programme forming part of the Kente festival of the people of Agotime and sitting together with the Konor of Agotime, Nene Nuer Keteku III. It clearly manifested the fact that unity is strength.

What is more, Togbe Atsa was full of praise for the Agotimes for putting their handiwork on the international market to put the map of the Adaklu-Anyigbe District before the world.

It is encouraging that the conflict which erupted when Mr. Kwadwo Adjei Darko was the Minister of Local Government and rural Development has subsided at the time that he is again in charge of the Ministry.

For our part, we would like to commend all those who worked tirelessly to bring about peace and unity to the district. These include the Chiefs, Elders and the Youth, as well as the district chief Executive and the Member of Parliament for the area.