General News of Monday, 20 March 2017

Source: mynewsgh.com

Appease Kintampo gods now to avert another disaster - Kontihene warns

Scene of the Kintampo Waterfalls accident Scene of the Kintampo Waterfalls accident

The Kontihene of Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo region, Nana Owusu Kinkra wants traditional authorities to as a matter of urgency carry out their traditional duties by pacifying the gods of the area in order to avoid a future disaster.

Sunday’s disaster which resulted in the death of about 18 students and scores of injuries is second of such unfortunate occurrence barely a year after the infamous Metro Mass Transit (MMT) accident which claimed over 50 lives.

Coincidentally, Sunday’s storm disaster is about 100 meters away from the scene where the Metro Mass bus had a head-on collision with a truck carrying tomatoes traveling from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso heading to Accra on February 17, 2016.

The Chief is however of the view that traditional authorities who are supposed to be custodians of the land are shirking their responsibilities leading to the needless deaths in the area.

“We must immediately rise up and pacify the gods. We cannot sit unconcerned while precious lives of persons who are not indigenes are lost through our actions. The gods are angry because we have refused to appease them in one way or the other”, he told mynewsgh.com in an exclusive interview

He has attributed the waterfall disaster to the anger of ancestors following the inability of traditional authorities to pacify the gods for over a period of time.

He stated that, there were some spiritual requirements that should always be performed by Chiefs in the country, since they are spiritual leaders to maintain natural law and order to serve as checks and balances to prevent such unfortunate instances.

“First it is the human activity that has resulted in the misfortune. There is also the spiritual undertone. I am talking as the Kontihene with regards to the blood stool inherited by our ancestors. We have some rules and regulations and some duties to perform. Our ancestors accepted some duties and customs, like it or not, we must continue them…”

“Because of Christianity and modernization we aren’t interested in the duties to perform especially with modern day chiefs. Whatever the culture and spirits demand we have to give them. Chiefs must make sure to recognized festivals, cultures and libations that enforce natural order things in the society. We need to go back and recoup all those things and bring them back into play…”