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A traditional ruler in the Upper West Region has appealed to the government to focus on the provision of infrastructural development next year. Alhaji Kuoro Iddrisu Bamie Yesseh III, Paramount Chief of the Lambussie Traditional said more state action was needed in the areas of agriculture, education, health and road infrastructure, especially in the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions to enable the people to improve their livelihoods. He commended government for subsidising the price of fertilisers to farmers and asked for more interventions in the provision of tractors, combine harvesters and marketing services to encourage more people to undertake food and cash crop production to sustain the national economy. Kuoro Yesseh was speaking at the maiden celebration of Mifele festival of the chiefs and people of the Lambussie Traditional Area at Lambussie on Wednesday. The festival would be celebrated annually to give thanks to God and the ancestors for good harvest, their blessings and protection during the year. Kuoro Yesseh said the number of schools organising classes under trees was still high in the region despite efforts of the district Assemblies and appealed to non-governmental organisation to help in efforts to reverse the situation. He appealed to the government to consider establishing a Teacher Training College at Lambussie- Karni District to cater for the training of teachers to help improve education in the region. Kuoro Yesseh called on his people to adopt local names for their children to reflect the Sissala identity, pointing out that even though foreign religion has permeated the Sissala culture, it should not bar them from maintaining their traditional names. Mr. Mahmud Khalid, Regional Minister, who graced the occasion advised the people to co-exist peacefully with other ethnic groups and pooled resources to complement government's development efforts in the district. He assured the people that government would from next year embark on massive agricultural development programme, especially in the North to utilise the potentials of the area to make the country food sufficient. He therefore appealed to the youth to take advantage of the dams and dugouts that the government would be providing to produce more food to feed the nation and for export. Mr. Khalid bemoaned the high incidence of malnutrition among children in the region and appealed to parents to discourage all cultural practices that denied children access to protein such as meat and eggs. "Let fathers also be responsible by providing their wives with the needed nutritional foods for the benefit of the family and stop the habit of eating in 'chop' bars alone to the detriment of the development of their children,", he said.