Kumasi, Feb 8, GNA - Nana Nsiah Peprah, Kokofu Sompahene, has called on the media to educate the people to guard against the destruction of the environment.

He said it was time the media spent more time on educating the people to keep the environment the way they came to meet it in its natural state since human development and survival depended on it. He was speaking at the launch of the Second Opemso/Ecotourism Festival of the people of Kokofu Traditional Area in the Amansie East district of Ashanti in Kumasi on Tuesday.

The festival, which is to commemorate the birth of Nana Osei Tutu, the Founder of the Asante Kingdom at Anyinam near Kokofu, is under the theme, "Celebrating the Golden Jubilee for the People, Nature and Culture".

Nana Peprah said the Kokofu Traditional Council was doing a lot to support, develop and promote the festival, which had been linked to the nation's cultural heritage and the environment to not only sustain the festival but also attract people from all walks of life. Nana Kofi Appiah, Asante-Bekwai Santasehene and Deputy Ashanti Regional Director for Centre for National Culture, said the Traditional Council was liasing with the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) to rehabilitate the home where the King was housed for the first 40 days of his life. He said efforts were also being made to rehabilitate and preserve the historical room in which he was kept, the groove, a twig where the mother, Gyamfuaa Manu, a royal of the Kokofuhene rested when she was in labour before finally delivering the baby under a tree where the umbilical cord was buried.

"All these spots including a stream, which she crossed are going to be developed for tourists attraction", he said. Dr Baah Wiredu, a Tourist Development Consultant, said there was the need for Ghana to take a serious look at its various tourist centres saying, "It is lead catalyst to the nation's socio-economic development".

Mr Benjamin Anane Nsiah, Ashanti Regional Manager of GTB, stressed that the Opemso Festival was the nation's heritage and must be cherished by all, pointing out that it served and benefited everybody in the society especially service providers when it become a popular tourist spot.