Dr. Wampah, BoG Governor |
The chiefs and people of Agortime traditional area in the
Agortime-Ziope district of the Volta region have celebrated their annual Kente
Festival (Agbamevorza) in a grand style.
The weeklong festival was climaxed with a grand durbar last
weekend under the theme, ‘conserving our cultural heritage’.
The Guest of honour, Dr Henry Kofi Wampah, Governor of the
Bank of Ghana in an address said the Ghanaian economy has over-relied on
unprocessed agricultural products and minerals over the years, hence the
paradigm shift towards the non-traditional export sector.
He therefore called on all communities who had similar
products like Kente to explore unfolding opportunities by repackaging the kente
industry and venture into the international market.
He said the government was committed to removing all
obstacles hindering the export sector and that it was important for
manufacturers of Kente to take advantage of new opportunities to enhance the
industry.
Dr Wampah also asked Ghanaians to patronise more
made-in-Ghana products, since their preference for imported goods did not only
enhance the economies of foreign countries but also caused a loss in foreign
exchange earnings for Ghana.
Mr Nii Lantey
Vanderpuye, Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, in his address announced that handicraft
villages would be established in the Upper East, Central, Volta and the Eastern
regions very soon and that land earmarked for one of such projects at
Agotime-Kpetoe should be protected.
He also said the ministry would help to inject necessary
innovations in the kente industry to improve on rate of production, adding that
efforts would be made to patent Kente as a national asset.
The Volta Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Nii Laryea
Afotey-Agbo, said Kente was a matchless indigenous fabric and a very unique
trademark that separated Ghanaians from the multitudes of citizens across
Africa and the world at large.
He said there was the need to assess the strengths of the
industry to generate more employment opportunities for the youth and that the
people of the Volta Region must boost and establish their type of Kente as a
brand for the region and the nation at large.
The M.P for the area, Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah, urged the
traditional authorities to release enough land for the establishment of the
kente village project and added that they should be prepared to add value to
improve their products.
The (Konor) paramount chief of the area Nene Neur Keteku III,
in his welcome address said, expressed regret that most contemporary weaving
communities no longer paid particular attention to the aesthetic and cultural
values of the Kente cloth and urged them to uphold the values.
The event was chaired by the Volta Region representative on
the Council of State and Paramount Chief of the Ziope Traditional Area, Togbe
Binah Lawluvi VI.
Dignitaries who graced the occasion included Togbega Gabusu,
paramount chief of Gbi traditional area and former president of the Volta
regional House of Chiefs, Mr. Isaac Apronti commissioner of CEPS, and some
Municipal and district chief executives as well as some MPs from the region.
No comments:
Post a Comment