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People of Prampram gear up for Lalue Kpledomi festival after symbolic visit to the Ancestral Forest
The people of Prampram are gearing up for the celebration of this year’s Lalue Kpledomi festival beginning from April 23.
According to an elaborate programme released by the Prampram Traditional Council, a curfew will immediately follow right after the first celebration has ended.
The second and third will also follow the next Tuesday after each other.
The festival is a veneration of the ancestral deity, Lalue, and the first is held to honour her memory.
The final celebration is often taken into the lower side of Prampram, where the “Kplemi” or drum is lowered into the sea.
Prior to that, an appropriate customary rite will be performed by the Chief Priest of the Traditional Area, Nii Ayertey Charway Labia.
As part of an elaborate spiritual rites towards the festival, a symbolic visit to the ancestral forest was performed near the forecourt of the Prampram District Assembly.
The all-white spiritual cermoney was attended by members of the Prampram Traditional Council led by its President and the Paramount Chief Nene Tetteh Wakah III, who asked for blessings for the people of Prampram and its environs.
For the first time, the event was carried live on PramcitiTV, a social media news outlet based in the town, and streamed around the world.
Explaning the rationale behind the event, Nii Ayiku Obleh IV or Numlor Kpanyor, a Counsellor and prominent member from Kley, one of the four quarters making up Prampram, said the “Huemiyami” in Dangbe or the visit to the ancestral forest, offers the spiritual heads in the town an opporutnity to come together and seek God’s blessings.
He said spiritual fortification is an integral part of every human being and before the beginning of an important exercise as the Kpledomi, it is important the town goes before the Lalue deity, to seek the blessings of God for the town and its people.
“We pray for the good of the land; for our fishermen, farmers, teachers, drivers, and any other professional to flourish in whatever they do,” he said.
“We also pray for those who are desperately seeking to have children to not only be blessed with them, but have the patience and wisdom to raise the children in the appropriate way,” he asserted.
According to him, what is done during the event is no different from what other religious bodies, especially the Christians do in their various places of worship.
Nii Ayiku Obleh IV also pleaded with natives of the town to actively participate in their festival since it is a true representation of their own identity.
The colourful ceremony was also witnessed by the traditional Queenmother Naa Osabu Abbey I, Asafoatsemeyi and Asafoanyemi, divisional chiefs from the traditional areas and members of the public.
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Traders, ‘Okada’ riders take over Circle pavement
• Korle-Bu CEO with staff of Nivaansh MediQas
Activities of traders and drug addicts are contributing to make the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange (Circle) area very uncomfortable and unsafe for commuters.
Day in and out, pedestrians are ‘ejected’ from the pavement created for their safety as traders preferred to sell their wares on that space.
That hinders the free movement of the pedestrians.
The small space left for the pedestrians are also shared with ‘Okada’ riders.
As if these woes are not enough for a commuter on a single day, they also have to navigate carefully to avoid clashes with drug addicts and the mentally challenged.
These people have turned the pavements into their places of abode, covering every inch of space with their wares.
Our photographer, Lizzy Okai, captures some of the unfriendly scenes the authorities must try and deal with to restore sanity to the area.
By Lizzy Okai
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NDC outlines demands before committing to Peace Pact
The National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has set forth specific conditions that the party insists must be met before considering signing the Peace Pact advocated by the National Peace Council in anticipation of the December 7 elections.
Mr. Nketia expressed scepticism about the effectiveness of past Peace Pacts, highlighting that they had not achieved their intended outcomes, particularly referencing the 2020 elections, during which eight NDC members were allegedly killed by national security operatives without accountability.
During an August 20 meeting with the National Peace Council at the NDC headquarters, Mr. Nketia detailed the certain conditions for the NDC’s participation in the Peace Pact.
The NDC is demanding that the recommendations from the investigation into the violence during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election be fully implemented.
They also want those responsible for election-related violence in the last election to be prosecuted, stressing the importance of justice and prevention.
The party is calling for accountability regarding irregularities in the printing of ballot papers and insists that visible measures be taken to prevent such issues from happening again.
They are also pushing for a thorough investigation into the missing IT equipment from the Electoral Commission’s (EC) warehouse, expressing concerns about the integrity of the EC’s systems and the potential bias of its staff.
Furthermore, the NDC is urging the President to publicly commit to respecting the results of the 2024 elections. Lastly, the party insists that the Peace Pact should be signed by key figures, including the Inspector General of Police, the Chief Justice, the Attorney-General, and the National Security Coordinator, before they will consider signing it themselves.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
