The Rt Hon Speaker of the Parliament and the Tengmaale Naa of Takpo Traditional Area Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has underscored the relevance and critical role traditional authorities play in the development of the country and therefore called them to shape the political discourse from deceit to development. “Talk to us, the chiefs, and talk about us, to shape the political discourse from deceit to development. The traditional authorities remain the leading institution in this country with unblemished character, and I will expect to see you play a very crucial rule in the body politics and as the custodians of this rich country, Ghana.” He added.
According to the Speaker,” the country is retrogressing faster than we think we are progressing. Our lands are being destroyed by foreigners introduced by citizens, we cannot feed our children in school, and yet, every morning, we are on all Radio and TV stations, defending things and explaining why only corn is fed our children for a whole week. To him people in authority don’t care about what is happening to the less privileged; and this has made most of our youth to be full of excuses in their dealings. No sincerity, no honesty, no respect for elders these days. And all these could be attributed to the decay of our culture, tradition and values”.
Quoting Socrates to buttress his point: “an unexamined life is not worth living”, he indicated that, there is therefore the need to take a deep introspection of ourselves and ask ourselves what we want for this country in the near future. Almost everything is gone amok in this country.
He added that, as a country we should be reminded that it is our culture which identifies us as a people and anchors us to develop. And therefore we as Ghanaians should be mindful of what we accept in our culture in the name of globalization and human rights and cited the Bible according to first Corinthians 6: 12 that “all things are lawful but not all are expedient”.
Touching on the theme of the festival: “nuoriyeni, maarong aneng maaluu,” he indicated that, it was very apt and inspiring and to him, festivals are used as effective catalysts for unity, peace and development. “Festivals are effective tools of sustainable development and peacebuilding. The celebration of festivals gives meaning to life and communal living. I dare say, any community without a festival is a dead society”. He therefore used the occasion to call on all sons and daughters of the Takpo Traditional Area to get involved in issues of concern and be interested in the development of the community.
He used the occasion to applaud Takpo Naa, Queen mothers, Queens, elders and Takpoolo for the establishment and continuous celebration of the Wilaa festival for more than twenty-six years now.
It will be recalled that last year the Chiefs, elders and citizens Takpo bestowed an honour on the Rt. Hon Speaker, as the Tengmaale Naa, i e, the development chief of the Takpo Traditional Area. He has therefore pledged to do everything possible within his means, to support the development and wellbeing of the people of the area. Takpo is richly endowed in gold and Azumah Resources have been given the licence to exploit it however, not much is done. He therefore called on the Government through the Minerals Commission to grant them community mining licenses to enable the teeming youth you engage in legal and responsible mining within the community.
