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Don’t politicise festivals – Henry Quartey

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey has cautioned against the politicisation of the celebration of festivals in the region.

According to him, the practice breeds divisiveness in various communities in the region and downplays the role of festivals in promoting traditions, culture and customs.

He, therefore, called on political parties and actors to be wary of their actions before, during and after the celebration of festivals in the region and help to build togetherness.

Mr Quartey was speaking at this year’s Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (GA-RCC) meeting in Accra yesterday.

The event brought together all 29 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), Presiding Members, Heads of Departments, staff of the RCC, Regional Directors of the various service agencies to discuss issues in the region.

“Take politics out of our festival celebrations.  Do your NPP and NDC as politicians but not during festivals.

“When they do Kwahu festival, we hear nothing about political parties, the same with Akwasidae and other festivals in the country.

“Why must our festivals be marked with political connotations? We need sanity to prevail in our festivals so we can sell and properly display our culture, tradition and customs,” Mr Quartey added.

Other happenings in the region which continued to pose a threat to its security, he said, was multiple sale of lands and activities of land guards.

Over the years, he said, some unscrupulous persons had made it a habit to sell portions of government lands to unsuspecting persons whilst others employed land guards to threaten land owners and deepen land disputes.

He said the Council was working with the security agencies to clamp down on land guards and put an end to all forms of lawlessness.

Mr Quartey stated that, as part of plans to address waste management challenges in the region, all the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) had been directed to provide site plans for the construction of waste transfer stations.

So far, some waste transfer stations located at Mallam, Ashaiman and Abokobi, he said, were currently at various stages of construction whilst, areas such as Achimota, Teshie and Ring way had their stations operational.

He charged all the MMDAs to own the Operation Clean Your Frontage initiative to support efforts to promote good waste management and sanitation practices to enhance sanitation in the region.

He asked the various Presiding Members of the Assemblies to support in the prosecution of strategies to ensure the realisation of the objectives of the initiative.

In the coming weeks, Mr Quartey said the Council would undertake a demolition exercise to remove structures and buildings obstructing the free flow of water as well as developments along waterways to help curb perennial flooding in Accra.

To address the problem in the long-term, lawyers and legal representatives from the various MMDAs have been tasked to develop a Standard Operating Permit (SOP) detailing the processes involved in application for a permit, he added.

On education, he said the Council was working with the Minister of Education to get teachers to teach the Ga language in the various basic educational institutions in the region.

BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS

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