Mr. James Coblah, a member of the 2017 Ngmayem Planning Committee has debunked claims that this year’s recently celebrated Ngmayem festival recorded the poorest attendance and participation in the history of the occasion.
This year’s event which was held under the theme, ‘The Role of Chiefs in Advocating Peaceful Co-existence,’ attracted thousands of visitors to Lower Manya Krobo between the 23rd and 29th of October, 2017.
There have however been concerns over the turn-up of visitors to the event which critics have labeled as “low.”
But speaking in an interview with Omanba Kwadwo Boafo on Rite FM’s Saturday Social Advocacy Program, Community Watch, the Financial Secretary of the four-member committee which planned the activities of the 2017 Ngmayem Festival, indicated that the festival experienced a remarkable attendance and participation by the chiefs and people of Manya- Klo that surpassed the previous festivals over the years.
He further argued that, as part of the festive-week activities, the visit to the ancestral cemetery, widely known in the local parlance, as ‘AKLEME’ on Wednesday, was witnessed by 15,000 people which constituted the chiefs and people of Manya Klo.
Meanwhile, patrons of the festival have discounted this claim by the Financial Secretary. They maintain that the festival experienced very poor participation, a situation they attributed to a protest staged by the youth who called for the settlement of a feud between them and the Volta River Authority.
The said demonstration called on the chiefs to provide a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Traditional Council of Manya Klo and the Volta River Authority (VRA) to address the lingering KLO-ECG saga.
But Nene Asada Ahor who is the Public Relations Officer of the Manya Klo Traditional Council, denied knowledge of any such MOU between the Manya Klo Traditional Area and the Volta River Authority.
He has therefore challenged anyone in possession of any such MOU to pursue their prayer since the secretariat of the paramountcy is yet to lay hands on any like manner document.
Kloyomi Gate Proceeds
Meanwhile, Mr. Coblah in admitting that returns from the gates was low this year; he however attributed it to the late arrival of the public.
“We received low income from the gate not because people didn’t come, but it’s because most of them came from 5 pm when we had stopped manning the gate,” Mr. Coblah explained.
Source: Omanba Kodwo Boafo/ritefmonline.org/omanbaboafo84@gmail.com
