The ceremony was chaired by the Paramount Chief of the Twifo Traditional Area in the Central Region, Obrempong Appiah Nuamah II, who is also a member of the Council of State and the Vice-President of the Central Region House of Chiefs.

The former Member of Parliament (MP) for Kade, Mr Ofosu Asamoah, was the guest speaker, while the District Chief Executive for Denkyembour, Mr Ofosu Birikorang, was the special guest of honour.

Obrempong Appiah Nuamah appealed to the people to take advantage of the Free Senior High School (SHS) Policy of the Akufo-Addo-led government to educate their children.

He said the future rested in the hands of the youth who were skilful enough to take over from the present leaders of the country.

Obrempong Appiah Nuamah said without education, the country would not achieve its development agenda.

He said parents had no excuse for their failure to educate their children as the government had decided to absorb the cost of education up to at least the secondary school level.

Obrempong Appiah Nuamah assured the people that the government was determined to extend development activities to all corners of the country and called on the people to contribute their quota towards that objective.

Former MP for Kade

Mr Asamoah, for his part, spoke about efforts by the government to improve the living standards of the people.

He said initiatives such as the one-district, one-factory and the support for every constituency would go a long way to change the fortunes of the people for the better.

Mr Asamoah, therefore, urged chiefs and landowners to release lands to the government and investors to carry out those projects.

He said the government considered the people as true allies in development and urged them to team up with assembly members and MPs to lead the processes of development.

Mr Asamoah added his voice to calls on the people to embrace the Free SHS Policy to train skilful and educated crop of young people ready to take over the leadership of the country in the near future.

Denkyembour DCE

Mr Birikorang used the platform to educate the people about the role of the district assemblies in development and asked them to make their opinions known on all projects being undertaken by the government.

He said since the projects were meant for the people, their inputs would be required in initiating them so that the projects would meet their needs.

Mr Birikorang said the government was on course to fulfilling its pledges to the people and urged them to contribute their quota towards the realisation of the programmes and policies initiated.

He mentioned some of the negative practices that were retarding development and cited ‘galamsey’ as one of the major drawbacks to efforts at protecting the environment.

Chief of Apinamang

The Chief of Apinamang, Osabarima Bibiarawonemere Oware Asare Pinkro III, urged the people to unite for the development of the town. He also spoke against galamsey, saying it was destroying the environment.

Osabarima Pinkro warned that if a stop was not put to the wanton destruction of the environment, the people’s very survival would be at risk.

He said he was aware that some people earned their living from galamsey, but urged them to find alternative livelihoods because the law would deal with them drastically if they were caught degrading the environment.