Agotime celebrates Kente Festival

STORY: CHARITY SACKITEY

The people of the Agotime Traditional Area, near Ho in the Volta Region, over the weekend celebrated the 12th edition of the Kente festival dubbed: ‘Agbamevorva.’

The event was on the theme, ‘Kente, our heritage for wealth creation.’

According to the Agotime Traditional Council, the main aim of the celebration of the Kente festival was to preserve the culture and aesthetic values of the Kente cloth apart from educating Ghanaians on the use of the cloth.

The Paramount Chief of Agotime, Nene Nuer Keteku III, in his address noted that the people of Agotime decided to celebrate the Kente festival as their timeless gift to the people of Ghana and the world.

He said it was also relevant to pass on cultural values to the next generation to treasure this kind of traditional legacy they inherited from their forefathers.

The Agotime paramount chief advised all Kente weavers as well as customers to be wary of charlatans in the industry who would always weave fake products to sell on the market since they knew it was a hot commodity.

He also warned against the lack of indigenous designs and the need to be creative through historic memories.

Nene Nuer Keteku further mentioned that written records, intellectual property rights and decreasing quality of fabrics can seriously lead to the breakdown of the industry.

In her address, the First Lady, Mrs. Ernestina Naadu Mills, noted that festivals served as a connection between the past and the present.

She indicated that the unique nature of the Kente festival surpasses many festivals celebrated across the length and breadth of the country.

“The Kente festival has served and continues to serve as the most powerful tool for getting Ghanaians in the Diaspora, as well as other foreign nationals to appreciate that extraordinary symbol that is synonymous with the identity of the Ghanaian-the kente cloth,” Mrs. Mills explained.

According to her, the people of Agotime have helped to restore the dignity of Ghana at the international level through the celebration of the festival since 1995 with the prime object to preserve the Kente heritage.

Touching on the theme, ‘Kente, our heritage for wealth creation,’ Mrs. Naadu Mills underscored that the theme was relevant for the festival because it portrayed the cultural heritage of the country’s kente cloth.