Kuoro Richard Babini Kanton, Paramount Chief of the Tumu Traditional Area in the Sissala East District has complained about the cultural decay among the Sissala, which is resulting in the gradual loss of their identity.

He drew the attention of the people to the rapid nature in which “our cultural heritage” was being eroded, pointing out that many of the younger generation had lost touch of their culture as they do not have traditional names.

“Many of our youth cannot sing or perform any traditional dance; they cannot prepare traditional dishes and they cannot even speak our traditional languages and dialects properly among others”, he lamented.

“Culture is said to be the way of life of a people and for us to lose all these cultural practices, meant we are gradually losing our identity as a people”, he added.

Kuoro Kanton, who is also a Council of State Member, made the complaint at this year’s Paari Gbielle festival of the Chiefs and people of the Tumu Traditional Area in the Sissala East District on Saturday.

He appealed to chiefs, landlords and the youth to re-examine their culture and throw away the aspects that were barbaric and dehumanising and to hold firmly onto the aspects that defined them as a people.

On governance, the Tumu Kuoro said, during the two years administration of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, a solid foundation had been laid for a smooth take-off that would see the pursuance of 17 Sustainable Development Goals which would consequently impact positively on the lives of the people.

He said policies such as the “Free High School”, “one village one dam” , “one million one constituency”, “one district one factory”, “Planting for food and jobs” and many others were those policies that could help the country achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in record time.

Kuoro Kanton noted that the Sissala Area was endowed with so many agricultural potentials such that many factories could be sited there.
He appealed to government to consider revamping the defunct Tumu Cotton Factory which had been idling for the past years to give meaning to the “one district one factory” policy.

The factory, if revamped would be put to several uses apart from the ginning of cotton to include; the entire value chain process of the cotton industry.
The Tumu-Kuoro appealed to government to consider the provision of potable water to the people of Tumu, saying the old dam which was constructed several years ago needed to be silted to hold more water for human consumption and agricultural activities.

On health, Kuoro Kanton said Tumu was strategically placed in the heart of Upper West and Upper East Regions and there was the need to provide it with a modern district hospital to take care of the health needs of the growing population and accident cases on the Bolgatanga-Tumu-Wa Road.
“Most often than not, when patients are referred to Wa Regional Hospital, which is 84 kilometres from Tumu, many of the end up dying on their way”, a situation he said was a worry to the people.

Kuoro Kanton appealed to government to consider creating an additional constituency from the Tumu Municipality before the 2020 elections, saying creating an additional constituency would fall in line with government’s vision of bringing governance closer to the doorsteps of the people.

The Council of State Member also appealed for a fence wall for the Tumu Senior High Secondary/Technical School which he said was located in the heart of the town to prevent encroachers from taking over the school land.

GNA