Madam Catherine Abelema Afeku, the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, has launched the 2018 Teshie Homowo Festival with a call on marketing companies to contribute to the development of the tourism potential of the society.
She said tourism, arts and culture are strong pillars on which nations evolve and urged the companies to take advantage of the month-long festival to make a positive impact on the expansion of the national and local economies of the people.
The Teshie Homowo would kick-start with the ban on drumming and noise-making from Monday, August 13, while the celebration is scheduled to take place from Monday, August 28 to Saturday, September 8.
It is being held under the theme: “Homowo 2018: An Agenda for Peace and Sustainable Development.”
Madam Afeku said: “There can be no peace without economic and social development, just as development is not possible in the absence of peace,” and therefore, the Ministry is proud to associate itself with the peace and development orientation of this year’s Teshie Homowo”.
She called on the residents of Teshie to religiously observe the ban while urging the Christian and Moslem communities to devote the period for deep meditation and prayers so that peace and prosperity would prevail.
“I have been told that the Teshie Homowo festival is a period of stock-taking, reconciliation and sober reflections. It also serves as a social control mechanism where virtue is rewarded and vice is sanctioned through songs by minstrel or ‘Kpa-shimo’ groups.
The Minister expressed happiness with the rebranding of the festival with injection of contemporary forms of entertainment such as street jams, beauty pageants and youth-centred programmes.
Madam Afeku commended the chiefs and people of Teshie for their novel initiatives such as the Akro Mobile Library Project, the Teshie Akro Portal Website and the Akro Excellence Awards Programme.
Gbetsoolo Nii Ashitey Akomfra III, the Teshie Mantse, presented a 2018-2020 Strategic Plan of the community and this details a road-map that defines their strategic goals and objectives for the next three years.
He said: “I hope this will provide a shared understanding as to where we stand today as a community and the direction we intend to move towards; the planned growth and development of our dear town and the wider Ga-Dangme communities.”
Gbetsoolo Akomfra said it is his fervent hope and prayer that a firm commitment to the Strategic Plan would enable them to create the future they envisioned for the people, the donor partners and the revered Ga-Dangme communities.
He said the plan would be geared towards the branding of the various segments of the festival and target them at specific donor partners and pursue multiple areas to build strong relationships with key development and media partners by providing them with up-to-date information on the status of programmes and activities.
The rest are to place high premium on time management and cost-effective programme of activities and to welcome technology for innovation in order to conduct activities in a more transparent and effective manner.
Gbetsoolo Akomfra expressed gratitude to all who contributed in diverse ways towards the development of the 2018-2020 Strategic Plan.
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