Offinso (Ash), Nov. 30, GNA -President John Agyekum Kufuor has appealed to chiefs and other traditional rulers to desist from acts and practices that could breach the peace and security of the nation.

He said traditional rulers who served as an embodiment of the tradition and culture of the people, should rather, strive to unite the people and lead them in the struggle to attain self- esteem, social development and progress in their various communities.

This was contained in an address read on his behalf, by the Minister of Defence, Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, at a durbar of chiefs and people of the Offinso Traditional area to mark their "Mmoaninko Festival", at Offinso on Saturday.

President Kufuor said it was important for every traditional ruler to have a vision, which could be realised to transform the lives of the people in their communities.

He commended the chiefs and people in the area for embracing the health insurance scheme and urged district managers of the schemes to use part of the funds as an incentive package to entice doctors and other health personnel to remain in their communities to serve the people.

President Kufuor, however, renewed his appeal to doctors and other health personnel whose education and training were financed by the people, to reciprocate the gesture of the people by staying in the country to work to improve the health delivery system.

The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11, said chieftaincy should no more be seen as a ceremonial institution, but rather, an institution at the forefront of socio-economic development of the people.

He said education should be seen as an important tool for socio-economic development of the people and urged chiefs to ensure that children in their areas attained higher educational laurels to enable them to contribute meaningfully to the development of the nation.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu said the Otumfuo Education Fund was established to assist needy children in the country and urged the people to support the fund.

Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Minister of Regional Integration and NEPAD, who is also the MP for Offinso North, urged the chiefs in the area to assist the government to protect the forest reserve in the area.

He said it was regrettable that people who had been recruited by the government to protect the forest were rather, cutting trees illegally from the forest and warned that such people would be dealt with severely, when caught.

Mr Joseph Yaw Oduro, DCE for Offinso, said the assembly had undertaken a number of development projects to improve the living conditions of the people.

These included construction of classroom blocks, provision of potable water, health facilities and micro financial assistance to the people.

Nana Wiafe Akenten 111, Paramount chief of the Offinso traditional area, said the aim of the festival was to raise funds to support education, health and the environment.

He appealed to the government to upgrade the Offinso township into an urban status and expand telephone and electricity facilities in the town.

Nana Wiafe Akenten, called on the chiefs and people in the area to protect their environment by planting trees to replace the degraded forest reserves in the area.