I will not give up fight against galamsey – Okyehene
The Okyehene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin has said he would not give up the fight against illegal mining in the area especially in Kyebi and its environs.
The Okyehene gave the warning at a grand durbar of chiefs and people of Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area to climax the Odwiratuo festival on Saturday.
The durbar was attended by large crowd of people including diplomats, Members of Parliament, government delegation led by the Vice- President, Mr John Dramani Mahama and representatives of the New Patriotic Party(NPP) led by the party’s flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
This year’s Odwiratuo festival which also marks the 12th anniversary of the installation of Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin as Okyehene was held under the theme “Unity and development”.
Okyehene said the influx of the illegal mining activities in the area had affected the people greatly as the society’s main source of water, the Birim River had been polluted.
He appealed to all stakeholders to join the fight in order to save the land for the unborn generations.
Okyehene said some progress had been made especially in education and child welfare and assured that more efforts would be made to improve education at the basic level in the Kingdom.
“My biggest pride today is that following the establishment of the first secondary school by a traditional authority led by my own grandfathers, Nana Sir Ofori Atta I, today Okyeman can boast of yet another history of being the first traditional council to establishment a university” he said.
He said the first batch of students intake of the university started in October this year adding that it was his dream to see the university grow to become one of the best in Africa and compare with other world class universities.
Okyehene called for unity among the people of Akyem Abuakwa and urged them to stand together and fight all tendencies that disintegrate their front.
He urged Ghanaians to turn out and exercise their franchise in a peaceful orderly manner.
The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo debunked allegation that since the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government took over in 2009, the National Youth Employment Programme had collapsed.
He said since the NDC government took over, the number of people working under the NYEP had gone up significantly and that other modules had also been added unto it.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said government through the Local Enterprise Development Programe (LESDEP) had offered employable skills training to hundreds of youth across the country in hairdressing, dressmaking, barbering, mobile phone repairs and other skills.
He said the creation of 42 new districts would also create jobs for other qualified young people in the country and therefore appealed to all Ghanaians to support the government’s commitment to solve the youth employment problem.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo urged the people to unite and fight a common agenda which is development.
Source: GNA