Akpafu-Todzi (V/R), April 12, GNA- Nana Afrifa Akuamoah IV, Chief of Akpafu-Todzi on Wednesday advocated for the change of name of the town from Akpafu to Kawu.

He said the traditional area was nicknamed Akpafu by the people of Eweland, in view of the sound produced in the iron mining and smelting ventures, the pre-occupation of their forebears. Nana Akuamoah said the noise made by the bellows that blew air into the smelters during the production of iron produced similar sound to "kpafu, kpafu, kpafu" hence the label Akpafu.

Giving a historical antecedent of the people of Kawu, he said research has indicated that the Kawu's migrated from Sudan, then along the Nile River and to the Northern Ghana.

Nana Akuamoah said the group moved further downwards through Brong Ahafo, Denkyira in Ashanti, Akwamu in the Eastern, Tsito in the Volta and finally to Awubeame present day Akpafu.

He said oral history has it that the Kawu's, who are Guans and speak the Siwu dialect, migrated from place to place in search of iron ore deposits, which they mined and smelt for moulding hoes, cutlasses, spoons and sometimes guns and war implements, with the location of two mining shafts currently situated at Akpafu-Todzi. Nana Akuamoah said efforts are being explored with the appropriate authorities to have the name changed in earnest. He said the launching of the Katere Iyi (Iron) festival would serve as a rallying point towards harnessing the potential of the area for socio-economic development.

Nana Akuamoah said the festival would remind the Kawu's and the outside world of the ingenuity and initiative of their forbears in mining and iron technology to encourage the youth to continue from where they left off.