Cape Coast, March 4, GNA - Madam Ama Benyiwa-Doe, Central Regional Minister, on Wednesday said instead of the outright sale of stool lands, they should be used as equities (shares) in projects that were developed on them (land). She said this would prevent or reduce the numerous ethnic conflicts that were associated to the sale of stool lands. Madam Benyiwa-Doe gave suggestion when she addressed members of the Central Regional House of Chiefs to introduce herself to them in Cape Coast.

She expressed concern over the high rate of chieftaincy and land disputes in the region and promised to set up a committee to assist in addressing them.

The Regional Minister noted that the greatest enemy the country had today is poverty, disease, squalor and ignorance. Madam Benyiwa-Doe said it was sad that the region, which first experienced formal education in the country, placed last in the last Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). She also expressed concern about the insanitary conditions in the region and tasked the chiefs to mobilise their people to undertake communal labour to help curb the outbreak of diseases like malaria, cholera and dysentery.

She deplored the attitude of some parents who made frivolous expenditure on funerals at the expense of their children's education. She added that the children themselves also attended wake-keepings instead of studying.

Madam Benyiwa-Doe called for the support of the chiefs in the administration of the region and said they would be represented on the Central Region Development Commission (CEDECOM) board. Welcoming the minister, the president of the house, Daasebre Kweku Ewusi VII, Omanhene of Abeadzi-Dominase Traditional Area, pledged their support to the minister and urged her to bring all on board to develop the region.