Paramount Chief of Manya Krobo launches Silver Jubilee Celebrations

Paramount Chief of the Manya Krobo Traditional Area and the Manya Krobo Traditional Council in the Eastern Regional have launched a two-week long 25th-anniversary celebration of the enstoolment of the Konor of the area.

Nene Sakite II who doubles as the president of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs and the Manya Krobo Traditional Council was enstooled on December 29, 1997, and several activities to commemorate the event have been lined up for the 16-day celebrations to be held between Friday, 12th May to Sunday, 29th May 2023.

These include visits to some mosques and churches, tertiary and senior high school institutions for tree planting exercises, some communities, a book launch, paying of homage by the various Divisions and individuals and a climax of durbar and chiefs on Friday, 26th May 2023 to be followed by a thanksgiving service on Monday, 29th May 2023.

Launching the event at the forecourts of the Konor’s palace at Odumase-Krobo, the King of the Manya Klo State, Nene Sakite II said though his reign has faced some challenges over the past years, various means were deployed to address them to ensure that they did not disrupt the developmental agenda for the community.

Nene Sakite in an interview with the press after the event, called on the youth to be law-abiding.

The traditional leader while citing an example of a JHS graduate who dropped out of school to learn welding but has turned out as a duly qualified medical doctor through his instrumentality and a special scholarship scheme encouraged young people to pursue their dreams as all things were possible.

“You want to be successful in life you don’t sit home for manna to rain from heaven for you to get, you have to go out every day looking for success and you’ll run into success,” said the chief urging brilliant but needy young people to take advantage of the scholarship opportunity to enroll in school.

He deplored the horrible state of the Somanya-Kpong as well as Atua hospital roads and assured that consultations were ongoing with the roads minister to fix the situation.

Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) For Lower Manya Krobo, Simon Kweku Tetteh congratulated the chief on his silver jubilee celebrations and called on all and sundry to rally behind the Konor to ensure that he accomplish his mission for his people.

According to him, the traditional and political leadership had jointly collaborated over the years to foster development adding that the collaboration was important for the development of the Manya Krobo area.

Nene Sakite’s Memorable Accomplishments

Upon his enstoolment as Konor, one of the first things Nene Sakite established was an Education Endowment Fund which was the first of its kind in the country.

The fund has since been used to assist some one thousand and five hundred students across Manya Krobo with the majority of the beneficiaries being second-cycle and tertiary students including professional schools such as medical and law schools and theology.

The establishment of an arbitration court also continues to offer alternative dispute resolutions for many litigants with successful and satisfactory arbitrations for all sides.

Nene Sakite at the peak of the HIV/AID scourge in the Krobo area in 1999 rallied groups like the queen mothers for an extensive HIV/AIDS campaign on awareness, education and support which successfully led to the reduction in infection rate to a minimum.

The feat led to the queen mothers winning an award from the Ghana Aids Commission in 2000 for their efforts.

The Krobo chief is also credited for his role as the first to bring antiretroviral drugs into the country with the assistance of the FHI 360.

In 2004, the Paramount chief approached the EU office in Accra to assist to fund some projects within the state of Manya Krobo which led to the funding of several projects including classroom blocks and a Teachers’ bungalow, a KVIP and a clinic.

Aside from this, the revered chief also served as a pioneer Council Member of the National Health Insurance Scheme from 2004 -2008, a Council member of the Ghana Education Services (GES), a Trustee of GETFund, president of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, Chairman of the Governance, Health and Development Committee and as a representative of the National House of Chiefs on the Local Government Services Council.

He has also established a High Court in Odumase and facilitated same in Asesewa, the Nursing and Midwifery School at Odumase, secured funding from GETFund as a Trustee, and established four more divisions to take the total number of divisions within the Manya Krobo Traditional Area to ten.

Nene Sakite also has to his credit, a book titled, ‘The Gospel and Tradition, The Royal Narrative’ and currently putting up a new Palace structure to be completed in December 2023.

Nene Konor was also instrumental in the establishment of the Nursing and midwifery training school at Odumase Krobo, Akro JHS, Odumase, Sekesua and Oborpah Community Schools, the Presbyterian JHS at Odumase and an assembly hall, as well as dormitory blocks for some senior high schools in the area.

The chief also lobbied for the building of the ECG office at Kpong, the construction of the Odumase to Oterkpolu road and also initiated the creation of the Upper Manya District Assembly and many more.