Akuapem Kyidom subdivision under the able leadership of Osabarima Ansah Sasraku III will attend a thanks-giving ceremony tomorrow, Thursday, August 18.
The occasion is part of activities to mark the 25th anniversary of Nana’s ascension to the throne as Mamfehene and Akuapem Kyidomhene.
Other key activities earmarked for the Ansah Sasraku Silver Jubilee celebration include unveiling of a 10-year Development Plan that is centered on the youth and future leaders of Okuapeman.
That sits in the construction of a multi-purpose auditorium that will provide space for vocational and IT training; E-Library; as well as for young people’s reaction and sports talent development – particularly in the areas of table tennis and badminton.
Those inclined towards the Arts will also have drama and theatre studios in the workshop complex.
Noting also that Mamfe, which is only 20 minutes drive to Accra, has lands for vegetable farming, Osabarima pledged his chieftaincy’s commitment to encourage young people to do more market-gardening for quick and decent money.
In an interview, Osabarima Sasraku thanked God, his colleague chiefs, public servants, assembly members, opinion leaders and all Kyidom residents for the “unflinching support they have given me in three decades, and, for the modest achievement we have chalked together.”
Among the attainments, Nana penciled out his “modest contribution to ensuring that all our residents have potable water 24/7 and the conversion of a junior high school into the now-famed Mamfe Methodist Senior High.”
To get into accelerated development, Nana Ansah Sasraku says, every community needs to shed its outmoded practices and carry along only useful traditions and beliefs.
“Accordingly, at the very inception of our stewardship, we set out to abolish such taboos as eating kenkey on Mondays, holding funerals on Sundays, and being superstitious about issues Science can convincingly deal with. I’m thankful I enjoyed the near-total cooperation of my elders,” he said.
Pointing out some of the useful traditions that needed to be upheld, the chief said under his reign, three outstanding royal funerals – one for a Kyidomhene who died in 1925, another in 1938 and the other in 1996 – had all been befittingly performed.
Insisting that it is more important to focus on the future than itemizing every single attainment over the last quarter century, the GIMPA Governance School scholar said – by far – what he is most thankful for is his considerable role in the mediation for peace at Akuapem.
From about 1993 to 2014, the 17 major towns of Akuapem were at the brink of total disintegration – with four out of five divisions threatening to secede and declare their independence from the Ofori Kumah Stool at Akropong.
By the efforts of succeeding national governments, eminent Ghanaian chiefs and other prominent Ghanaians, Okuapeman was able to re-unite as a single paramountcy with a common destiny.
The attainment of that peace, Nana says, “in all humility, brings so much satisfaction to my heart. I reluctantly note that – apart from the divisional chiefs that were reuniting with Akropong – I am the only signatory to the Peace Accord. That should tell you the extent of work God used us to do in that delicate negotiation and mediation.”
Back to the future, the Mamfehene invites all Mamfe citizens, Akuapem citizens as well as friends home and abroad to join his Silver Jubilee.
The venue is the Emmanuel Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Mamfe. And, the starting time? Eight O’clock in the morning.