ADAKLU-ANYIGBE: Agortime Kpetoe celebrates kente festival

Trade Min. Hannah Tetteh

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms. Hannah Tetteh, has called on ‘kente’ weavers to make good use of the Skills Development Fund (SDF) made available by her outfit, to improve upon their businesses.

The Minister, who made the call at this year’s ‘Agbamevorza’ Kente Festival of the chiefs and people of the Agortime traditional area at Kpetoe, in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District over the weekend, pointed out that the government would not be in position to help individual kente weavers, but would rather assist them as groups.

Mrs. Tetteh said when the necessary financial and technical assistance is given to the kente weavers it would go a long way to transform the kente industry, through the use of modern techniques in producing the fabric.

She continued that her Ministry was prepared to collaborate with kente weavers at Kpetoe in the bid to transform the industry, to make the kente cloth more attractive to the public.

She noted that when kente weavers formed groups and associations, the government could help establish craft villages with showrooms at Kpetoe for kente products, saying the same thing was being done in other parts of the country, and could be done for kente weavers in the Volta Region.

The Minister also stressed the need for parents and other stakeholders in education to ensure that their children were in school, because that was the only way to guarantee development.

The Minister of Women and Children Affairs and the Member of Parliament for the area, Mrs. Juliana Azumah-Mensah, announced that as part of efforts to promote girl child education in the District.

she had resolved to sponsor girls who are offering science at the Senior High School (SHS), as well as those performing very well in science related subjects at the basic level.

Mrs. Azumah-Mensah, who lauded efforts being made by the chiefs and people in the area to promote peace and unity through the annual “Agbamevorza” celebration, observed that the frequent participation of Agortime communities in the Republic of Togo and other Togolese citizens during the festival would go a long way to ensure good relations between the two nations.

The Minister appealed to the Trade and Industry Ministry to help promote kente weaving at Kpetoe, as a way of job creation for the youth.

The Paramount Chief of the Agortime Traditional Area, Nene Nuer Keteku III, commended the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mrs. Juliana Azumah-Mensah, for the role she continued to play in promoting developmental activities in the area.

The Chronicle.