Accra, Oct. 27, GNA - President John Evans Atta Mills, has lauded the immense contributions of traditional authorities to national development and restated Government's readiness for closer collaboration with them to better the lot of Ghanaians.

He said as custodians of the nation's rich cultural heritage, it would not be in the national interest to leave them out in the national development agenda.

He said some of them had served the nation as direct or indirect advisers to Governments and played active role to see to it that national plans were implemented to the benefit of the people. President Mills made the observation when Nene Tetteh Tuumeh I, Acting Paramount Chief of Yilo Krobo Traditional Area, led a delegation of the Yilo Krobo Traditional Council, to the Osu Castle to inform him of the demise and funeral arrangements of Kpetekple Narh Dawutey Ologo VI, paramount chief of the Area.

Kpetekple Ologo, known in private life as Cephas Kwame Narh, passed away at the age of 72 at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra on May 7. Until his death, he was the President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs and a member of the Council of State, a constitutional body that advises the President, from 1997-2000. Other achievements of Nene Ologo, enstooled in 1978, were the formation of the Yilo Krobo State Council, renovation of the palace, and promotion of the Kloyosikplem festival and the development of the Boti Falls as a tourist centre.

Nene Ologo was also a member of the Eastern Regional Lands Commission and the Regional AIDS Commission. President Mills eulogized the late traditional chief, who was also honoured with the Order of the Volta Companion Division in 2008, as a visionary leader who was concerned about the improvement in the lives of the people.

He extended his sympathy to the children, family and the entire Kroboland for the loss. The family spokesman and leader of the delegation, Nene Tuumeh, announced that the body of the late Kpetekple Ologo would be brought home on December 2, laid in state on December 3 and 4, and buried on December 5.