Kumasi: Johnson Asiedu Nketia, Chairman of the NDC, has praised the Asantes' cultural policy of ethnic assimilation and urged other ethnic groups in Ghana to emulate it. He described ethnic assimilation as the surest pathway to fostering ethnic tolerance, which, he said, could contribute meaningfully to sociocultural development.
According to Ghana News Agency, ethnic assimilation, he explained, is a policy framework intended to absorb minority groups or immigrants into the dominant culture, with the aim of making them indistinguishable from the majority population. It requires the adoption of the host language, social norms, and shared values often at the expense of original cultural identity, while placing emphasis on unity over diversity.
Speaking at the annual durbar organised by the Council of Zongo Chiefs in Kumasi, Mr Nketia said the Asantes had continued to intensify their approach to ethnic integration and that, in his view, accounted for the steady development of the Ashanti region in all sectors. The NDC chairman noted that the age of ethnic politicking was long gone, and that the NPP must confront present-day realities rather than resorting to unnecessary ethnic pronouncements.
Mr. Nketia said the NDC had embraced the Asantes' policy of ethnic assimilation, adding that was why it had not hesitated to assign competent individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds to occupy key portfolios in the Ashanti Region. He said the Ashanti region had become a welcoming home for the NDC, and that was why the current government continued to advocate the greatest share of the national cake in terms of development.
Mr. Nketia commended Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, for his continued efforts to promote ethnic diversification within the Ashanti region. "It is only in the Ashanti Region where we have all ethnic groups living comfortably," he added.
Mr Nketia was accompanied by Professor Edward Brenya, Council Chairman, KSTU, Professor Yarhands Dissou, Council Member, KSTU, Professor Joseph Yensu, Council Member, USTED, and a host of other government functionaries.