Using Homowo Festival to restore Accra to its greatness is good idea

 At a Homowo durbar of chiefs and elders of the Gbese Tradi­tional Area, in Accra, over the weekend, the Gbese Mantse, Nii Ayi-Bonte, urged the peo­ple to unite in their efforts to restore Accra to its greatness.

He explained that Homowo was not a period only for merry making but for deep introspection and reflections on the past, present and the future.

Nii Ayi-Bonte said it was very important for the people of Ga Mashie and Greater Accra in general to pause and take stock, reflecting on why it was lagging behind in its development despite being the national capital.

“We must celebrate this year’s Homowo but we must not only make merry, we must also reflect on our past, present and future and also find ways we will unite to build Accra,” he stressed.

The shares in the sentiments expressed by the Gbese Man­tse who is also the Adonteng of the Ga State. He could not have chosen any other plat­form than the one offered by the Homowo festival which is celebrated by the Ga-Dangme people in the Greater Accra Region.

Indeed, while congratulat­ing the Gas for celebrating another festival, we would like to add our voice to the call by the Gbese Mantse which we believe is also shared by all well-meaning indigenes and Ghanaians at large.

It goes without saying that the Ga state is a pale shadow of its past due to a myriad of factors some of which are self-inflicted. Besides many challenges faced by the Ga state being imposed by virtue of its being the capital city, conflicts particularly, chief­taincy and family feud have played a major role in the state of affairs in the Greater Accra Region.

It is heartwarming however that some of the chiefs have began to take pragmatic steps towards mobilising the peo­ple to change course towards a path that would restore the region to its rightful place.

We have seen in recent times the mobilisation of the people to embark on a massive cleanup exercise, set­tlement of disputes, collective efforts to recover property from the state and many oth­er initiatives to restore Accra to where it belongs.

These and many social in­tervention policies to empow­er the youth and build the human resource base would surely contribute positively in changing the narrative for the Ga state.

Once again, we commend Nii Gbese and all Ga-Dang­mes on this auspicious occa­sion and wish that the path to recovery would be smooth to restore Accra to its greatness.