By Samuel Akumatey, GNA
Kpalime Duga (V/R), Nov. 10, GNA – The
Kpalime Traditional Area in the South Dayi District of the Volta region has
committed to using its annual Kpalikpakpa festival to conserve the environment
in the wake of rapid degradation largely due to inconsiderate human activity.
The festival was launched with ceremonial
tree planting activities with support from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Over 200 trees were planted to among others,
serve as vegetation covers and wind breaks.
Togbega Atikpladza Agbi Yao VIII, Paramount
Chief of the Traditional Area, at a grand durbar at Kpalime Duga to climax the
celebration bemoaned the long term destruction resulting from the
indiscriminate felling of trees for commercial gains, and promised to work with
stakeholders to restore the environment.
“I call on all to support the Traditional
area to plant more trees and clean up the environment to enable us have a
better life”, he said.
The Festival was on the theme: “Accelerated
Development through Peace and Unity”, with the Paramount Chief calling on the
people to uphold peace, unity and discipline as tenets to help the area realise
its developmental ambitions.
Togbega Agbi Yao made an appeal to
government to help address the long standing challenges in education, water,
health, infrastructure and employment in the area, saying, “the failure of past
and present governments to execute key projects in the Kpalime Traditional Area
for decades is disappointing, to say the least”.
Mr John Pwamamg, Acting Executive Director
of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who chaired the durbar said a well
preserved environment was key to development, and that the Agency would adopt
Kpalime Duga as one of the areas it would work with in safeguarding the natural
environment.
He said a waste segregation programme would
be introduced in selected basic schools in the community, and hinted that the
area would host the regional celebration of the World Environment Day, next
year.
Mr Rockson Dafeamekpor, Member of Parliament
(MP) for South Dayi Constituency, said, “as we drum and dance, let the rhythms
of the drums that presents a uniform sound, inform our communal progress and
our communal spirit must be rekindled”.
The MP told the Ghana News Agency on the
side-lines that his office had initiated tree planting activities in
communities along the Volta River with the aim of checking erosion, and
providing the needed vegetation cover.
He said he was engaging the EPA, waste
managers, and the National Disaster Management Organisation to address
challenges arising from rising river levels, which often flooded homes and
submerged farms.
Mr Patrick Mallet, District Chief Executive
for South Dayi said there was a lot the area could benefit from government’s
flagship programmes, adding that the Assembly was aware of the challenges
facing the area and was working to have them addressed.
This year’s celebration is the 23rd since
the festival was instituted, and it is the first since Togbega Atikpladza Agbi
Yao VIII ascended the throne.
The durbar was attended by chiefs and people
from neighbouring communities, as well as dance, and cultural troupes who kept
the event in colour.
A fundraiser was held at the event towards
the construction of a proposed chief’s palace.
Kpalikpakpa is celebrated annually to
memorialise the historical achievements of the people of Kpalime, and to
reawaken the ancestral spirit of unity, which helped the seven towns in
migrating to their present location.
It is also held to help rally the people
towards the development of the area.
GNA
