Dekpor celebrates rice festival, call on indigenes to unite

The Chiefs and people of Dekpor in the Ketu North Municipality of the Volta region, have held their annual “Morlu Za” (Rice Festival) with a call on all indigenes to unite for the development of the area.

Speaking at a colourful ceremony to climax the week-long celebration, Dumega Wilson Akey, an elder of the community, who is also chairman for the Dekpor Development Committee, said it was important for the people to pull together to initiate self-help projects and programmes towards the socio-economic transformation of the community.

He observed that government alone could not fix all the development shortfalls of communities across the country and so “all hands must be on deck if we wish to see a change in our society.”

Mr Gabriel Kwamigah-Atokple Tanko, an aspiring parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Ketu North, who was at the function, commended the people for their determination to champion their own cause.

He said rice cultivation in the area was a viable venture that needed to be harnessed and expanded to create more job opportunities for the people of the area, especially the youth.

“Having been trained into what we call Public Private Partnership (PPP), I feel it is imperative that we see how best to partner with the private sector to do well for our people,” he said.

He said the Weta Irrigation Scheme was one of the biggest in the country, producing thousands of tonnes of rice annually.

He called for efforts to ensure that a lot more was done to establish rice milling factories and out-grower schemes in the enclave “to empower our people.”

Citations of honour were presented to deserving individuals for their dedication to improving the community.

The festival was celebrated on the theme: Uniting for development.”

Source: GNA