Feature: Ghanaians celebrate rich culture at 2016 Kente festival

Ghana's rich and diverse culture was on display as thousands converged in the small southeastern town of Agotime Kpetoe on Saturday for the annual celebration of the rich hand-woven African Kente fabric.

The durbar of the chiefs and people of Agotime started with majority of the over 5,000 people present clothed in rich and expensive Kente clothes sewn in different styles.

There was traditional prayer through libation to invoke the presence of the spirits of the ancestors of the land. The traditional rulers wore expensive beads and gold necklaces and wrist bands.

Weavers demonstrated the act of weaving to show the care and pain it takes to make one complete kente fabric on parade. Besides, numerous of dancers performed with various forms of traditional African drumming and music.

Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare, who was the Special Guest of Honor, reiterated the fact that Ghana's tourism sector is a potential gold mine for the country.

"Ghana's tourism, culture and creative arts have the potential to become the number one foreign exchange earner. This requires an injection of investment to develop our products and sites," she said.

The minister appealed to strategic partners and collaborators in the private sector to take advantage of the investment opportunities that exist in the tourism industry to help it grow.

She observed also that Kente weaving is the major source of livelihood amongst the people of Agotime which therefore behoves all to preserve the uniqueness of the Kente cloth to ensure the sustainability of the Kente weaving industry in Agotime and surrounding areas.

"There is no better way to project the cultural values of Kente than by instituting this festival which brings all Agotime citizens from far and near to Kpetoe, clad in their resplendent Kente cloths to discuss the development of the traditional area," the minister noted.

She took the time to appeal to the youth of Agotime not to leave their ancestral community in droves to the urban areas for non-existent jobs, stressing, "The youth can make a living here by engaging in agriculture and Kente weaving, both of which are lucrative ventures to be engaged in."

The theme for this year's celebration, the 21st since its inception, is "Projecting the Cultural Values of Kente for Unity and Development."

Nene Nuer Keteku II, Konor (Traditional Ruler) of Agortime Traditional Area, noted that the Kente fabric is the true cultural identity of his people.

"Without our cultural identity we are like the leopard without spot. The Kente cloth as the melting pot of our identity is not just a body attire. The designs encapsulate important aspects of our philosophy in the same way they invoke pride and strong feelings," he stressed.

Celebrating Kente as a festival in Agotime, the king noted that it is not an arena for the purity of a theoretical debate on where and how the cloth evolved, but a clarion call to everyone to join hands in the celebration of that unique symbol which binds the people of Agotime and most Ghanaians together. Endit