66th Mepe Annual Afenorto Festival Slated For August 6 -As Police, DCE Warn Trouble Makers
The Mepe Development Association(MDA) under the auspices of the Mepe Traditional Council has launched the 66th Mepe Afenorto Festival at Masito Palace, the popular hotel in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region.
Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu Greater 
The Mepe Development Association (MDA) under the auspices of the Mepe Traditional Council has launched the 66th Mepe Afenorto Festival at Mepe Masito Palace, the popular hotel in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region.
The ceremony was well-attended by high-profile dignitaries, including the National Democratic Congress (NDC)Chairman for the North Tongu Constituency, Mr.C.K Akaho-Tay, District Chief Executive (DCE) for North Tongu District Assembly, Mr. Divine Osborn Kwadzo Fenu, Aveyime District Police Commander, Superintendent George Aboagye, heads of corporate institutions, among others.
The theme for this year's festival is; "TVET Education, Our Future; Development in Peace, Our Cultural Heritage."
The durbar slated on August 6 2022 at Mepe Presbyterian Junior High School (SHS) park.
In his remarks, Chairman of the MDA, Mr Fabian Kojo Ellenu, disclosed that the objective for the launch of the festival was to bring to the doorstep of the people of Ghana and the outside world the uniqueness of the Mepe Afenorto Festival.
He added that the traditional practices celebrated by the people for the past 66years have been done in the spirit of peace and oneness.
Speaking on the theme, Mr. Ellenu stressed that it was carefully selected because "they believed that we only develop when there is a peace, unity and oneness, calling on all the citizens of Mepe to be united to help bring development to the area.
He noted that the Afenorto festival brings people together and send out a message of peace and unity, besides promoting indigenous cultures.
Mr Ellenu who is very passionate about the youth development in Mepe and its adjoining communities used the opportunity to advise the youth to strive to preserve their conscience, guard their future and forcefully ward off any attempt by the powers that be.
“Instead, they should concentrate on using their God-given talents to the benefit of their communities and the nation at large," he added.
He stressed the urgent need for the central government to come-up with pragmatic measures to help forestall the wayward behaviour of the youth.
According to him, parents, teachers, chiefs, the clergy and government as a whole have a huge responsibility to protect the society especially the youth from these social vices.
He stressed that social media is playing a significant role in the waywardness of the youth, adding that instead of the media of harnessing the huge potentials of social media for their development they rather learnt the negative aspects of western culture on WhatsApp, twitter, facebook and others.
He said the Children’s Act enacted by Parliament frowned upon such acts by the youth and the law if enforced would bring irresponsible parents to book.
The MDA Chairman also stated that children formed their behavioural and cognitive skills at their tender age which impacted on their habits and called on parents to train them well to desist from exhibiting negative behaviours and practices in the presence of their children.
He stressed parents should be interested in all activities of their children, the kind of friends they make, their friends’ families and where they lived and the kind of TV programmes they watched among others.
“Closer supervision is very much a remedy in this regard to help monitor and correct such negative behaviours identified in the youth especially in their early formative years” she added.
He further urged parents to instil confidence and trust in their wards to let them open up whenever they were faced with problems of any kind.
He pointed out that their behaviours could be checked by organising training programmes for the various youth groups and by encouraging a lot more of the youth to participate in church or religious activities.
He suggested that etiquettes and proper training should also be included in the educational curricular to help minimise the incidence of youth misbehavior.
He urged parents to inculcate in their children the family values by letting them dress properly which he said would go a long way to address some of the challenges and called on the civil society to take up the challenges of the wayward behaviour of the youth.
She said another canker destroying the youth was the craze to get rich overnight leading them to vices like internet fraud and called for the teaching of etiquette in various schools and that parents should also attend programmes concerning their wards.
For his part, the Aveyime District Police Commander, Superintendent George Aboagye
encouraged the chiefs and other traditional office holders in Mepe Traditional Area to be endeavoured to live in peace and harmony.
"I am using this platform to send this caution messages to individual trouble makers who are secretly planning to destroy the activities of this year's annual celebration of Afenorto festival of the people of Mepe to desist from their plan because we are going to deal with those trouble makers squalling," Police Commander stressed.
"We, the police officers are on the ground to ensure peace and order during, before and after the festival activities of Mepe, and l am urging the residents of Mepe to corporate with the national security agencies so that the people of Mepe can have a peaceful and enjoyable festival," the police officer maintained.
The senior police officer complained bitterly about the negative attitudes of some commercial motor riders (Okada operators), using their bikes to indiscriminately knock down people,resulting to the deatths and injuries of some innocent people in the area.
He called on the residents of Mepe and Battor and their adjoining communities to be mindful of the nafarious activities of the motor riders popular known as the Okada operators.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for North Tongu District Assembly, Mr. Divine Osborn Kwadzo Fenu, in his speech backed the various caution statements of the police commander made to the citizens of Mepe and entreated them to comply with the messages in order not to land themselves into the grip of the law.
The DCE assured to corporate with Mepe Development Association to continue with development agendas of Mepe, encouraging the chiefs and other traditional office holders to be peaceful.
He said the land owners of the area to act in the manner that the land issues would not bring disunity among the land developers in Mepe.
He further called on the chiefs and kingmakers to resolve all the protracted chieftaincy disputes in the area which ought to retard development of Mepe.
"If there are misunderstandings in connection of the chieftaincy disputes in the area, the elders and kingmakers to use the traditional protocols to resolve these issues in order to ensure peaceful coexistence in the area," the DCE appealed.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Chairman for the North Tongu Constituency, Mr.C.K Akaho-Tay also expressed worry over the increasing rate of chieftaincy dispute in Mepe and its adjoining communities, the development, he stated does not support for the development of the area.
He pointed out that it is time for feuding families to cease the fight among themselves and find solutions to resolve the matter, stressing that the people in Mepe as well as North Tongu needs peace to develop.
He called for unity among the chiefs and other traditional office holders in Mepe as well the North Tongu as a whole.
Mr. Tay was speaking on behalf of the
National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Mr Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa .
He noted that "We in the NDC as political party are encouraging the citizens, particularly, the elders and chiefs in Mepe to become closer and achieve a common goal to bring socio-economic development and growth in the area," he stressed.
"I want to state that it is time for the families from where the chiefs are installed in Mepe should be mindful that they are installing the chiefs to represent the people of their clans and that should in case some chiefs or people have differences in their houses, that misunderstanding shouldn't be allowed to block the chances of the entire people of the Mepe Traditional Area not to celebrate their annual festival," Mr.Tay stated.
He noted that he expected from those individuals that if they cannot harbour their differences, they should rather stay home and they should not come to destroy the celebration of this year's annual Afenorto festival.
He pointed out that although things are hard currently, it is the time for all and sundry to contribute towards socio- economic development and growth of the area.
