GHANAIANS URGED TO SUSTAIN PREVAILING PEACE (PAGE 21, OCT 23)

THE Deputy Volta Regional Minister, Colonel Cyril Necku(retd), has stressed the need for Ghanaians to sustain the prevailing peace and unity in the country to speed up the progress of the nation.
“We should not in our actions or inaction cause resources meant for development to be diverted into conflict resolution and conflict management,” he cautioned, adding, “We must not allow our actions to cause the destruction of
the available infrastructure”.
Col. Necku was addressing a durbar to commemorate the eighth edition of the Oil Palm festival (“DEZA”) by the people of Dzodze Traditional Area at Dzodze in the Ketu-North District last weekend.
He said national growth would be stunted if the nation allowed itself to suffer from negative practices and, therefore, made a clarion call against conflicts, adding, "conflicts had made the Government spent huge sums of money in peacekeeping and conflict resolution at the expense of socio-economic development”.
 Col. Necku, therefore, urged the people to use the festive occasion and subsequent ones to forge ahead in togetherness, work in peace, love and unity so as to contribute positively to the development of their communities in particular and the nation as a whole.
 He called on the people to be security-conscious to avoid chieftaincy and land disputes, which have already bedeviled many communities and suppressed conscious efforts at development.
The Member of Parliament for Ketu-North, Mr James Klutse Avedzi, announced that a proposal had been approved to extend electricity to 47 communities in the Ketu-North Constituency.
He also said the Government had acquired a loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the construction of the Akatsi-Akanu and the Akatsi-Agbozume-Aflao roads.
He underscored the multiple economic values of the oil palm and said he was happy that the people had developed interest in cultivating the crop and thus introduced a festival to that effect.
 Mr Avedzi urged them to investigate the viability of an oil palm nursery set-up at Dekpor by the previous government at Dekpor in order to rehabilitate it to provide them with seedlings.
`In a welcoming address, the Chairman of the DEZA Planning Committee, Mr Prince Kluga Ahiadzro, said the festival offered a platform to express profound congratulations to the President John Evans Atta Mills and his vice, Mr John Dramani Mahama, on their election to the highest offices of the land.“We declare our unflinching support to you and the Government in all spheres of national development,” he stated.
Mr Ahiadzro appealed to the Government to consider the establishment of a senior high//technical institute in the Dzodze Traditional Area to serve the Ketu-North and Ketu-South.
He urged the youth to rise up to the task of supporting the elders in meaningful development, adding that they should shun acts that were socially unacceptable.
The Chairman for the occasion, Mr Justice Amegashi, who is the acting Chief Executive of the Vehicle Examination and Licensing Division (VELD), commended the people for their industry, and said they should uphold the production of “Dzomi”, a highly nutritious residue of palm oil.