Prepare list of royals -Minister

Gomoa Afransi C/R, Jan 6, GNA - Mr Sampson Kweku Boafo, Minister of State at the Ministry of Culture and Chieftaincy Affairs, has appealed to kingmakers to prepare a list of royals who qualify to ascend thrones and skins.

He said such lists, when followed properly, would make it easier to select and install chiefs and avoid misunderstanding that often resulted in bloodshed, destruction of property and waste of state resources. Mr Boafo said this when he addressed a durbar of chiefs and people of Gomoa Afransi to climax their Akwambo festival on Saturday. He said the list would prevent numerous chieftaincy disputes and stop people who use money to influence kingmakers.

Mr Boafo, who is the MP for Subin in Kumasi, said chiefs in the Ashanti Region had started preparing lists of royals and appealed to other traditional areas to do the same. On the forthcoming general elections, he appealed to people who are 18 years and above to register when the voters' registration exercise opens in March.

Mr Boafo said the government would resume work on the tarring of the Afransi-Gomoa Ankamu road and appealed to the chiefs and people of Gomoa Ajumako Traditional Area to support government in its efforts to develop the country.

Nana Ato Arthur, Central Regional Minister on behalf of the chiefs and the people thanked President J.A. Kufuor for the creation of the Gomoa East District and expressed the hope that the people would work together to ensure total development of the area.

He said he was not happy about the number of chieftaincy and land cases in the region.

He said the Regional Security Council had to send security personnel last Thursday to avert bloodshed at Gomoa Mozano and Gomoa Mprumem over of the celebration of the Peace Crusade and Akwambo Festival respectively. Ms Joyce Aidoo, District Chief Executive for Gomoa, appealed to teachers, parents and other stakeholders in education to find a lasting solution to the poor performance of basic schools in the district. She said no pupil from 14 schools in the district scored between aggregates 6 and 36 to qualify for admission to Senior High School in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) last year. She said the assembly had taken measures to help address the problem and appealed to parents to provide the needs of their children including uniforms, textbooks and others items.

Nana Ogyedom Obrenu Kwesi Atta VI, Chief of Gomoa Afransi, said the creation of the new district would facilitate the development of the area since resources given by the government could not reach all corners when it was not divided.

He said the celebration of the Akwambo Festival was to foster unity among the people to fight poverty, hunger and disease that are the common enemies to mankind.