Pemapem Yaw Kabrese V, President of the Brong-Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs, on Wednesday appealed to Ghanaians to help protect the environment from destruction.
He said it was a collective responsibility for all Ghanaians to control illegal mining and logging, destruction of water bodies and deforestation.
Pemapem Kabrese V, Paramount Chief of Yeji Traditional Area, made the appeal when he addressed a durbar of chiefs and people of Brong-Ahafo, Upper West and Eastern regions, at the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC), underway in Sunyani.
The one-week programme, under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, in collaboration with the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs and the Regional Co-ordinating Council, has attracted traditional leaders, Ministers of State, the Clergy and dancing groups from all the municipalities and districts of the three regions.
NAFAC is a biennial event that offers a common platform for all regions of the country to come together to display the very best of their culture and traditions.
Pemapem Kagbrese noted with concern the rate at which the environment was being destroyed and said this required attention from every Ghanaian as posterity would judge this generation if the environment was allowed to deteriorate.
He said there was the need for traditional rulers, as the embodiment of the people, to play leading roles in protecting the environment and, therefore, cautioned chiefs who were involved in illegal mining to stop.
Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, advised the youth against copying bad foreign culture, saying that was detrimental to accelerated national development.
She said without culture, no country could develop and advised Ghanaians to develop the taste for local dishes and clothing to preserve Ghana?s rich cultural heritage.
Mr Eric Opoku, Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, expressed appreciation to traditional authorities in the region for the effort in preserving their various cultural heritages.
He expressed concern about indecent dressing among the youth which was due to the infiltration of foreign culture that had gradually adulterated Ghana?s rich and distinctive culture.
Mr Opoku said the country was now in a state of ?cultural dilemma? and called on various ethnic groups to do their best to preserve their cultural values.
GNA
