Regional News of Thursday, 24 May 2007

Source: GNA

C/R minister worried about children attending funerals

Nti Morkwa (C/R) May 24, GNA- Nana Ato Arthur, the Central Regional Minister, on Wednesday expressed worry that parents were allowing their children, especially those of school going age, to attend funerals. He observed that it had become fashionable to see school children as young as six years dancing at funerals till very late in the night. Nana Arthur expressed the concern when he met the chiefs and people of Nti Morkwa as part of his two-day tour of the Twifo-Heman-Lower Denkyira district, to interact with the people and inspect development projects.

He urged the district assembly and traditional rulers to enforce by-laws on children to prevent them from attending funerals in the area. Nana Arthur said the practice was a breeding ground for promiscuous life style, which was affecting the academic performance of children. He expressed regret that some parents spent huge sums of money on funerals instead of investing in their children's education and urged them to take advantage of the Capitation Grant and send their children to school.

Nana Arthur gave the hit that the community health nurses' training school to be established in the district would admit its students from the area and urged the people to do everything possible to feed the school with qualified students.

He asked the people to rekindle their communal spirit and reminded them that most of the projects under the European Union required that beneficiaries provided labour.

Nana Arthur expressed worry that because some communities did not take communal labour serious most EU projects in the district were lagging behind.

He said 20 kilometers of the Twifo-Praso-Dunkwa-On-Offin road would soon be re-awarded for tarring and promised to provide 100 bags of cement for the completion of the Nti Morkwa police station.