People of Fawomanye boycott Akwambo festival

Agona Fawomanye, Sept. 30, GNA - The people of Agona Fawomanye in the Agona District of the Central Region on Friday boycotted a durbar organised by the Chiefs and elders to climax their Annual Akwambo Festival.

Nana Okoofi Amponsah II, Chief of the town speaking to the Ghana News Agency expressed shock and dismay about the attitude of the people and their refusal to participate in the celebration after it had been advertised.

He said some of the people went to their farms, attended church services while others were busily trading at the market. Nana Amponsah said some of the issues to be discussed at the durbar were the falling standard of education, construction of a modern place of convenience, low registration for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and indiscipline among the youth.

When the GNA reached the durbar grounds in the morning, only Nana Amponsah and three elders were sitting under a canopy waiting for the people who never turned up.

Nana Amponsah said the situation was made worse when Mr Ben Mensah, Agona District Chief Executive failed to turn up. He said Mr Mensah informed him (Nana Amponsah) on telephoned some few minutes to the commencement of the durbar that he was travelling to Cape Coast and could not send a representative from the District Assembly.

Nana Amponsah said 'Not even the beating of a "gong-gong" calling on the people to the durbar could make them attend.'

By noon when the people had failed to turn up, Nana Amponsah and Nana Nduako Odabaw VII, Tufuhene asked children around to remove the canopies and pack the plastic chairs.

Nana Amponsah said all clan heads in the town would be summoned to the palace to answer why their relatives failed to turn up for the durbar.

He noted that the best result in this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) was aggregate 33. Nana Amponsah said a meeting had been held with the head teacher and staff of the school to find ways of reversing the trend, adding: Some of the funds realised at the durbar would have been used to motivate the teachers.

Nana Odabaw expressed concern about indiscipline among the youth in the town and said a clean-up exercise organised by the chiefs and elders was also boycotted by the people.