Nana Kobina Nketsia V (2nd right) arrives at the festival grounds
The Minister of Railways
Development, Joe Ghartey, has revealed that his ministry has finished
rehabilitating the Railway Training School located at Essikado in the Western
Region.
The Akufo-Addo government has
worked tirelessly to transform the defunct Railway Training School into a world-class
technical training institute as part of efforts to revamp the railway sector.
The training school was
revived in collaboration with the University of Mines and Technology
(UMaT) at Tarkwa.
The hitherto active training
institute currently has enough facilities for the running of tertiary courses
to train technical personnel for industry, academia and entrepreneurship.
Speaking at this year’s celebration
of Kundum Festival of the chiefs and people of Essikado, Joe Ghartey, who is
also the Member of Parliament for the area, disclosed that the school is ready
to admit students. He stated that UMaT would soon complete its ‘intellectual’
work for the institute to take off.
He said railways development in the
country started at Essikado-Ketan and was excited that the once active training
school had been revived eventually.
Nana Kobina Nketia V, Paramount
Chief of Essikado Traditional Area, bemoaned the much chieftaincy litigation in
the region which remains unresolved.
He regretted that in recent times, these disputes had degenerated into bloody conflicts
and chaos. He condemned the recent attack on the Paramount Chief of Lower
Dixcove Traditional Area, Nana Kwasi Agyemang IX.
The Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, said the time and resources
wasted on litigation could easily be channelled into more productive ventures
for the benefit of majority of the people.
He advised the chiefs and
other opinion leaders in the traditional area to initiate support for
developmental projects that would improve the socio-economic fortunes of the
people.
Kundum is an annual festival
celebrated by the Ahanta ethnic group. It commences in Sekondi in the
Western Region every August and ends in Cote d’Ivoire in December.
They use the period for
reconciliation, by settling family and community disputes, including the
initiation of developmental projects.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Essikado
