The Chiefs and people of Tanyigbe in the Ho Municipality have modified and re-instituted their annual Yam Festival to make it more purposeful.

The festival, this time round, would not only appreciate the toils of farmers, as symbolised by the harvest of fresh yams, but also mark the exodus the people from their old settlement (Gborxome), across the mountains, to the present abode.

Mr Kofi Bimah, a Forestry Commission Executive and Anniversary Central Committee Chairman, was speaking at a durbar to climax the novelty celebrations at Tanyigbe on Saturday.

He said after some 30 years of the relegation of “Tegadudu”-Yam Festival-to the background, it “has bounced back with a bang” and that the festival’s cultural significance and the bonds of unity engendered by historical linkages would be harnessed for development.

Mr Bimah said planners of the 2011 Yam festival, which also marked the 80th anniversary of the migration, had targeted Ghc 30,000 for the refurbishment of the community clinic, constructed through self-help years ago.

He commended compatriots living in the Europe, USA and Canada for giving enormous boost to development programmes at home.

Togbe Kwasi Adiko V, Paramount Chief of the Tanyigbe, speaking on the festival theme, “Uniting the People of Tanyigbe for Development through the Celebration of Yam Festival”, said the event was a platform for promoting the socio-economic development of the area.

He lauded some groups for their efforts to bring development to the area, among them the Tanyigbe Ladies Club (TALAC) which is constructing a girl’s dormitory for the Tanyigbe Senior High School and the Martinelli family of the USA for providing potable water for Tanyigbe-Atidze.

Togbe Adiko commended government for the road works in the area and the infrastructure and logistic provisions for the local Senior High School but called on the authorities to bring the contractors on the Kpodzi-Atidze road and the GETFUND EP Junior High School Block at Kpodzi to order for non-performance.

Mr Kwamina Mafi Akwa, Coordinating Director of the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) who represented the Volta Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Amenowode, said the tumbling educational performance in public schools in the region needed to be tackled.

Major-General Henry Kwami Anyidoho (rtd), a celebrated soldier of international repute, co-chairman for the occasion, urged the youth to get actively involved in the development of their communities.

The Tanyigbe Anyigbe, Etoe, Atidze and Dzafe communities would take turns to celebrate the festival with merry making in the coming weeks.