Save Kente Industry From Collapsing - Bonwirehene

The Chief of Bonwire, Nana Bobie Ansah, has noted that the activities of some unscrupulous people in the country are gradually collapsing the Kente industry.

According to Nana Bobie Ansah, the importation of fake kente fabrics into the country as well as the printing of imitated kente prints are militating against the advancement of the industry. Nana Bobie observed that the kente industry employs more than hundred thousand people in Ghana and all efforts must be made to protect it. Nana Bobie Ansah appealed to the government to add kente to the President's Special Initiatives as well as granting those in the industry loans to be able to sustain their businesses. He cautioned that any attempt to look down on the industry will spell the doom of the nation's tourism industry.

Nana Bobie was addressing a gathering of nananom at Bonwire during the last Akwasidae celebrations at Bonwire in Ashanti. The ceremony was used to brief! the gathering on the outcome of a trip embarked on by the chief and a section of stool elders to the UK this year for the 2005 UK Bonwire Fair at Bristol in the UK.

The Fair showcased the beauty and elegance of Asante Bonwire Kente. It attracted lots of dignitaries and among them was the high Commissioner to the UK, Mr Isaac Osei. Nana Bobie Ansah asked the business community in London to come and invest in Kente in Bonwire. Those who accompanied the chief to the UK were the Bonwirehemaa, Nana Nyarko Frimpomaa, the Gyaasehene, krontihene and nifahene.

The rest were the kyidomhene and a cross section of kente weavers from Bonwire.

The elders and people of Bonwire expressed their gratitude to the chief, Nana Bobie Ansah for projecting the town and its potentials in the UK and conferred on him the title of Odefuo for his good works. Nana Bobie Ansah expressed his gratitude to Mr Gary Nicole of the UK high Commission and the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu for their immense ! help which made the fair a success.