Dzodze, Sept. 30, GNA - Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama at the weekend, inaugurated a 150,000 dollars Ghana Telecom (GT) facility at Dzodze in the Ketu District of the Volta Region.

The facility, which will step up cellular phone communications, especially the 'One Touch' service of GT, will serve the people of Dzodze, Agbozume, Klikor, Afife and surrounding communities. Vice President Mahama inaugurated the project as part of the annual Dzodze Deza festival of the chiefs and people, which is associated with the palm crop, which is a traditional mainstay of people in the area. Vice President Mahama asked the people to be vigilant and report to the security services anyone who tampered with the installed equipment. He assured the chiefs and people of efforts by the ruling New Patriotic Party to open up the area for development, saying materials for a street light project to boost socio-economic development in the town had arrived in the country.

"Government does not discriminate in the delivery of infrastructure to the people of this country. The only constraint is inadequate resources.

Touching on the festival, Vice President Mahama said government introduced the President's Special Initiative on Palm because of the major economic opportunity to the people. He called on the chiefs and people to establish small-scale industries in order to take full advantage of the crop. Major Courage Quashigah (Rtd) Minister of Health, asked the people to be proud of their rich cultural heritage and not vilify their ancestors as demonic.

He quoted a document, which explained efforts made by European colonisers to use religion to make Africans passive to accept the values of Europe to the detriment of their own and also to look down on their local heroes.

Major Quashigah said the Danes specifically instructed Christian missionaries not to preach to Africans about God and moral values since they already had such knowledge.

They should rather use religion to tell Africans that their idols are demonic and collect and dump them in museums. Africans must also be taught to be meek and humble to glorify their poverty and not to resist colonialism and the good things of life. Mr Paul Amuzu, Regional Manager of GT, said the facility would be cited in the remaining districts. 30 Sept. 07