Globalization, technological advancement should not destroy our culture – Minister

Mr. Bede Ziedeng, the Upper West Regional Minister has appealed to Ghanaians not to allow globalization and technological advancement to destroy the norms, socio-cultural values and belief systems that identified them from others as a proud and unique group of people.

He has therefore called on all Ghanaians to make conscious effort to teach their children the rudiments of their culture at the infant stages so they would grow to appreciate the essence of their cultural values and practices.

Mr. Ziedeng, who made the appeal during the celebration of this year’s “Paari Gbielle” Festival of the Chiefs and people of Tumu Traditional Area, said that was the only way culture could be maintained, sustained and enriched for the benefit of the people.

The Regional Minister noted that it was in recognition of the importance of culture that President John Dramani Mahama re-designated the Ministry of Tourism to include Culture and Creative Arts.

He appealed to traditional leaders to seize the opportunities that would be presented by the Ministry to enrich their cultural heritage and development.

Alhaji Amin Amidu Sulemana, the Minister of Roads and Highways thanked the people for their support during the 2012 electioneering campaign and noted that as soon as the elections were over, the government shed off its political colours for the national colours to continue with the total development of the nation, under the “Better Ghana Agenda”.

He said being a son of the area; he would endeavour to work with stakeholders to meet the road network deficit, a commitment according to him was further boosted by the State of the Nation’s Address delivered by the President to Parliament on Thursday, 21st February, 2013.

The Roads and Highways Minister said the President’s address enumerated some of the major roads to be tackled of which the Navrongo-Tumu Highway was included, adding that he would also work hard to ensure that the Tumu-Han, Tumu-Wellembelle-Wahabu–Fian and Tumu-Gwollu Highways were upgraded to an acceptable standard.

Alhaji Sulemana who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Sissala West Constituency urged the people to take education serious by sending all their children to school especially the girl child, adding that, it was however not enough to just send their wards to school, but to sacrifice a little more of their time to monitor their progress.

Kuoro Richard Babini Kanton VI, Paramount Chief of the Tumu Traditional Area said the theme for this year’s Paari Gbielle” Festival celebration, “Our Culture, Our Identity” was aimed at drawing attention to the fact that any people without a culture was without an identity.

According to him, almost everything they did today was foreign and he believed that did not augur well for their development, hence, the need for policy makers to go back to the drawing board to fashion out developmental programmes in line with their culture.

He expressed gratitude to the government for the establishment of a Midwifery Training School at Tumu, the extension of electricity to many rural communities and also awarding contracts for the construction of a traditional council office accommodation for them.

Kuoro Kanton appealed for the establishment of a Health Assistants Training School to train more auxiliary health staff, the construction of a dam for irrigation purposes and the full exploitation of the shea nut industry for the economic benefit of the people.

The Paramount chief said the tourism potential of the district was also yet to be fully tapped to speed up revenue generation for the development of the district.

Among these are the Kassana Slave Market, the ‘Jollum bun’ and ‘Wottuomo’ slave defense settlement sites in Dolibizong and Lilixia respectively, the Bujan bone setters centre among other cultural artifacts in the area.

Madam Alijata Sulemana, Member of Parliament (MP) for Sissala East Constituency appealed to traditional leaders to abolish all negative socio-cultural practices that were inimical to the development and wellbeing of the people especially women.

Source: GNA