Agortime-Kpetoe (V/R), Sept. 4, GNA - Ms Elizabeth Ohene, Minister of State in Charge of Tertiary Education on Saturday exhorted highly educated professionals to bring their expertise to bear on developing the full potentials of the kente industry.

This is because the industry involved more than just weaving, which many people believed rather wrongly as fit for only school dropouts and those less academically endowed.

Ms Ohene made the call at the 10th "Agbamevoza" of the chiefs and people of Agortime Traditional Area in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District in the Volta Region under the theme: "Peace and Unity for Development". "Agbamevoza: is the celebration of Kente, which is the indigenous industry of the people of Agortime.

Miss Ohene observed that though "the brave new colours and designs from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have brought such a fresh outlook to the kente, the marketing strategy has not caught up with its potential".

She suggested that the identity of persons who produced the kente cloth including other details should be put on the cloth as a form of advertisement.

Ms Ohene said: "The original kente remains as a work of art and retains its allure despite fears that it risked losing its distinctive elegance due to machine imitations."

"The kente announces itself as something special that never loses its allure, celebratory fabric, it distinguishes Ghanaians as a people of style, it is indeed the king of textiles, I should say the Queen of textiles," Miss Ohene said.

In an address, the Volta Regional Minister, Mr Kofi Dzamesi commended the people of Agortime for sustaining the festival, which had become a major event on the national calendar.

"Of importance, however, is to consciously plan such festivals in a manner that at the end we should publicly declare any quantitative and qualitative gains that we may have made from the previous celebrations," he said.

On the new status of Agortime-Kpetoe as the district capital of the Adaklu-Anyigbe District, Mr Dzamesi said the choice should not be celebrated as a victory for the people of Agortime-Kpetoe, neither should the people of Adaklu take it as a defeat.

"The bottom line is that we want a district so that the area could develop faster than if it had remained part of the Ho Municipality," he said.

In a welcoming address, Nene Nuer Keteku, III, Konor of Agortime said plans were afoot to mobilise and train Junior and Senior Secondary School students who show interest in kente weaving through financial assistance.

He said the traditional area planned to open a kente market at Kpetoe for the sale of good and quality products, which would require the assistance of the Ministry of Tourism and Modernization of the Capital City.

Nene Keteku recommended the establishment of a Kente Heritage Museum as a tourist attraction and preservation of the history and development of the kente industry in Ghana. 4 Sep. 05