Offinsohene Tours Traditional Area

NANA Wiafe Akenten III, the Offinsohene, has drawn a programme for the entire Offinso district and traditional area in six months.

The intended tour of the communities will enable the Omanhene to acquaint himself with developmental needs of the people and to enable the traditional council respond to them positively.

The initiative is to supplement government's effort at the grassroots level. The six months programme will herald the Mmoaninko festival of the people of the area slated for November, this year.

The tour begins on March 4, at Afrancho where Nana Wiafe Akenten would join the people on communal labour after which he will interact with the people.

Each community would have its turn engaging in communal labour and interaction with the paramount chief at the head of the traditional council.

In an interview with the Chronicle, Nana Akenten disclosed that the intended tour with the people at the grassroots follows the realisation that most of the traditional rulers were relying on assembly members and the government through district assemblies to provide all their needs without making efforts at involving the people in their own development.

He said it was time traditional rulers mobilised both human and natural resources for their development.

The chief said the interaction with the people would help him and the traditional council evaluate potentials of the various communities towards their development.

The programme, according to Nana Wiafe Akenten, is to induce communities, assert their roles and contribute in the development of their communities.

"We don't have to sit idly and look up to the assemblies (government) solely for the provision of our needs," he stressed.

He said time was when chiefs lorded it over their subjects and expected that the government would provide every need.

It is for these perceptions that the Omanhene, as a good servant, would tour the traditional area to afford him the chance to assess the level of development in his domain and see how best help could be offered.