By Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
The Wala Traditional Council has reiterated a call on the government to elevate the Wa Municipal Assembly to Metropolitan status.
The call was made in a speech read for the Wa Naa, Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo, by his Secretary, Naa Ibrahim Kadri, at this year’s Dumba Festival in Wa.
The traditional council added that aside from the elevation, a separate district should be carved out from it to ensure balanced development for the communities of the Wala State.
GBC’s Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo, in this write-up, says the Dumba festival serves as a period of unification for the people of the Wala State as its indigenes residing elsewhere return home to reunite with their relatives.
All chiefs and elders in the traditional area gather in Wa during the festival to reaffirm their loyalty to the Overlord of the Wala State. Naa Ibrahim Kadri emphasised that the call for the elevation of the Wa Municipal Assembly was a reminder and made other observations.
“We are reminding government of this request and hope it will be factored into the current plan to create additional districts in the country.”
“The deplorable nature of the Wa-Bole Bamboi road is legendary. Travelling on it is a nightmare and nothing short of an ordeal.”
“During his most recent visit to my palace, His Excellency, the President promised to fix the road as his parting gift to the people of the Upper West Region. True to his word, shortly after his return to Accra, two key Ministers relevant to the fixing of the road, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Roads and Highways, came to assess it.”
“This gave us some hope. We are anxiously waiting for action to be taken on that road,” Naa Kadri observed. He expressed appreciation to the government for the work on the internal and arterial roads of Wa so far but said that one road that needed immediate attention was the Wa-Sing-Loggu road. Naa Kadri indicated that actually the Wa-Sing-Loggu stretch “can scarcely be called a road, as most often, drivers on it stop for moments to decide where to pass”.
We passionately plead for it to be fixed for us, he emphasized. Naa Kadri also stressed the need for the infrastructural challenges confronting the Simon Dombo University for Business and Integrated Studies, Dr. Hilla Limann Technical University, Wa Nursing Training School, as well as the Wa Municipal Fire Service Office to be addressed.
The Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, who deputised for President Akufo-Addo, announced that some amendments are being made to the Chieftaincy Act, Act 759, of 2008 to enable chiefs to handle petty disputes within their jurisdictions.
He stated: “My Ministry, since I became a Minister, we are working on some amendments to the Chieftaincy Act of 2008, Act 759, where some authority will be given to traditional leaders to adjudicate petty disputes within their catchment areas. Beyond that, we are looking at resourcing Namine/ Kuore and Pognamine/Halakuore in their administration. A chieftaincy Fund like the District Assembly Common Fund is being worked on. This will go a long way to make Nananom/our Traditional leaders comfortable to administer the country for all of us.”
Touching on the requests made, Mr Asamoah Boateng said he will refer them to the appropriate authorities for the necessary attention.
The theme for the 2024 Dumba Festival celebration was: “Uniting Our Heritage, Embracing Our Future: Celebrating Resilience and Progress in the Wala State.”
