New Edubiase (Ash), July 28, GNA - An international artist has called on Ghanaians to jealously guard the rich cultural heritage handed down to them by their forebears.

Making the call at New Edubiase in the Ashanti region, Mr Harold Akyeampong, President of the Ghana Percussive Arts Society and International Centre for African Culture and Arts, said the different races and people the world over found their identity in their culture. "People without a culture have no identity," Mr Acheampong said when addressing an African Dance Expo 2006 organised jointly by the Adansi South District Assembly and his organisation.

The artist said the country's predecessors fought and died whilst protecting the culture of the land because they found the survival of posterity inherent in the customs and traditions.

He urged Ghanaians living in Diaspora to practice some of their cultures such as funeral, birth and puberty rites, wearing of traditional costumes, among others, to sell the country to the outside world.

Mr Kwabena Appiah-Pinkrah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Akrofuom, deplored the blind copying of alien cultures, which he said, had contributed to a high spate of immorality, indiscipline and disrespect for the elderly.