Kuoro Buktie Kuri Limann IV, the Paramount Chief of Gwollu, has appealed to the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Madam Harriet Thompson, to support women in the area with shea nut processing plants and help the youth in skills acquisition and development.
He urged people in the diaspora to visit Gwollu and the other slave routes in the northern part of Ghana as part of plans to promote tourism in the area, reminding the High Commissioner that Gwollu was a slave route, where the people built walls to protect themselves against the slave raiders in the past.
Kuoro Buktie said this when Madam Thompson paid a working visit to the Sissala West District as part of her three-day tour to the Upper West Region.
She paid a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief and also visited the Jitong community to interact with the people on the prevention of violence extremism in border communities.
Kouro Buktie conducted her round the tomb of former President Dr Hilla Limann saying: “It’s good that you have come to see him as he was a democratically elected president of the Third Republic but was unconstitutionally overthrown and was never found to be corrupt”.
“Even after the overthrow he was never taken care of and as a former student of the London School of Economics in Britain, your visit as the British High Commissioner is most appropriated and we are grateful.”
The Gwollu Chief noted that a library being built in his honour was not completed and pleaded with the British Government to support its completion.
He said it was the British that helped the government to set up the Ghana Cotton Ginnery at Tumu adding that it needed some refurbishment and resources to operate.
Madam Harriet Thompson expressed satisfaction to be part of the community and pledged to advance the development of the district through discussions with the ministers of Education, Health, and Security among others on related issues and challenges.
Madam Thompson noted that education was a leveler and the only way the Upper West Region could leap out of poverty, especially through girl-child education.
At the community durbar in Jitong, the people shared testimonies on how they had been sensitised on the prevention of violent extremism and how to coexist with minority groups such as the Fulani communities.
They, however, complained about poor telecommunication networks along the border communities, which could hamper the reporting of strange persons and activities to the security agencies.
Mr Yussif Kanton, the Executive Director of Community Development Alliance (CDA), in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said: “We managed to build relationships with the Immigration, Police and other security agencies, which have enhanced trust among border communities who now feel free to report an unknown person to the security and other stakeholders.
Source: Ghana News Agency
