By: Seraphine Nyuiemedi
The Youth of Kpedze in the Ho West District have marked their second edition of Kpedze Youth Homecoming Festival with an appeal for citizens to help bring lasting solution to chieftaincy disputes in the area.
The Chairman of the Kpedze Youth Development Association, George Ofori who made the appeal disclosed that protracted disputes between chiefs and elders have been a major challenge to the area’s development.
He said several attempts by stakeholders to resolve the conflict have proven futile. Mr Ofori said the division in the area necessitated the change of Kpedze Development Association to Kpedze Youth for Development Association in a bid to promote peace and unity. He said this is a major step to address the issue and charged the youth not to take sides in the impasse but intervene for the area’s accelerated development.
“Our mission is how to restore peace, unity and prosperity of our Communities, beyond the inescapable constraints due to the division among the states. This is a clarion call and plead to all the youth of Kpedze to remain courageous and patriotic to their motherland to effectively play role as the driving force in building Kpedze together. We the youth must be fully engaged with determination, professionalism and with a high sense of sacrifices in restoring unity in Kpedze” he said.
A development Queen-Mother of Kpedze -Todze, Mama Agbalenyo known in private life as Professor Sylvia Morrison emphasised the need for the people of Kpedze to unite with a common goal which is socio economic development of the area.
“The Kpedze Development Association and the Kpedze Youth for Development Association must find a way to become one unit so that we are not building in two tracks, we are building together because a house divided against itself cannot stand” she said.
This year’s Kpedze Youth Homecoming Festival was themed “Youth must play the lead role in restoring peace and unity in Kpedze for development”. The five-day event brought together citizens from far and near amidst pomp, float, health screening and pageantry. The chiefs of the area were present at the durbar to climax the event.
The Guest of Honour, Lawrence Sanco Atsrim was hopeful that the celebration will be a major boost for the unity and reconciliation process. The District Chief Executive for Ho West, Ernest Apau cautioned instigators of the disputes to desist from the act in order to stop division amongst the chiefs.
The Chief of Kpedze-Todze, Togbe Okumka appealed for support from the youth to restore Kpedze to its original state.
A sod was cut for the commencement of the head teacher’s Bangalow project at Kpedze-Todze. Over 10 thousand cedis was realized in a fundraising towards the start of the Project. Proceeds from last year’s celebration in Kpedze-Sreme brought some relief to their acute water challenges faced over the years.
