USE LOCAL LANGUAGES DURING FESTIVALS — MP (OCT 9, PAGE 16)

THE Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho-West, Mr Emmanuel Bedzrah, has entreated communities to use local languages during durbars organised as part of their festivals in order to inculcate cultural values in the children and the youth.
He said it was the only way to reinforce and preserve language as part of culture for emerging generations.
Mr Bedzrah said this when he addressed the Tsibu Norvisi Yam festival at Tsibu -Awudome in the Ho Municipality last weekend.
He stressed the need to revisit the culture of the people and refine them with the view to halting indiscipline among the youth, adding that there must be unity of purpose in towns and villages in the traditional area to forge ahead in development.
The MP said the government placed emphasis on vocational and technical education and promised to support efforts by the people to establish one of such institutions at Tsibu.
In an address, the chief of the town, Togbe Adzadi Kpaku III said the people had achieved a remarkable record in self-help efforts including the construction of a feeder road, schools, agricultural projects, clinic, teachers’ quarters, and the extension of electricity.
He said the people were constructing a library through self-help and appealed to the government to come to their aid, adding that the government should assist each community in Awudome Traditional Area to develop one natural resource into a viable commercial venture.
In a welcoming address, the chairman of the Tsibu Awudome Youth Association, Mr Simon Ben Awumey, said the people were determined to keep the good things they inherited from their ancestors and that the festival was expected to unite other towns in Awudome in order to revive the pursuit of lost glories.
He expressed regret that the youth were wasting away in poverty, poor health and indiscipline and called for a holistic effort by parents, teachers and chiefs to cause a change of attitude in the youth for them to adopt ways to improve their lives.
A senior divisional chief of Avenui-Awudome, Togbe Adza Gbeklui, called for the revival of initiation rites for the youth to serve a guidance into adulthood.