The Central Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Sarpong, has appealed to Ghanaians to shun negative practices that could disturb the peace of the country.

The Regional Minister made the appeal when he addressed a durbar of chiefs and people of the Awutu Traditional Area to mark their Awubia festival at Awutu Beraku on the theme: “Peaceful Co-Existence for Accelerated Development”.

He appealed to the chiefs to package their celebration of the festival in a way to attract tourists and investors.

The Regional Minister congratulated the chiefs and the people for preserving the cultural heritage bequeathed to them by their ancestors.

He said Awubia festival is one of the distinctive festivals celebrated in the region, and if packaged well and modified, could attract more tourists and investors to the area.

Mr Sarpong said the Central Region is the heartbeat of tourism and also the citadel of education in the country, and added: “We must all work hard to reap more benefits from tourism and education by keeping our environment clean”.

He urged the people to join hands to fight teenage pregnancy and school dropout, which were fast permeating the area.

Madam Hannah Tetteh, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Member of Parliament for the area, appealed to the chiefs and land owners to reserve some of their land for industrial and other developmental purposes.

Nai Aboukuadze Agyemang Whettey Otabil II, Omanhene of Awutu Beraku and President of Awutu Traditional Area, in a short history of the festival said the celebration was to thank God for a bumper harvest of grains.

It is also used among others to take stock of their past events and plan for the coming year.

He appealed to the government to rehabilitate the Awutu roads and to consider establishing a new senior high school in the area.