BAARE YOUTH DAA FESTIVAL CELEBRATED

04-11-2010 Narration: The Traditional Chief of Baare, a farming community in the Talensi-Nabdam District of the Upper East Region, Naab Nyaakora Mantii, has declared a permanent ban on record playing and dances after 6.00p.m during funeral festivities. This, he noted, is due to the fact that school children in the community and its catchment area have taken undue advantage of such occasions to indulge in absurd and immoral activities. He said the unfortunate trend has had a serious adverse effect on the academic performance of students in the area. Naab Mantii made the pronouncement at the climax of this year’s Baare Youth Daa Festival Celebrated by the Chiefs and People of the Baare. Correspondent Isaac Asare witnessed the ceremony and has the rest of the story for Radio Ghana.

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This year’s Baare Youth Daa Festival on the theme: “Wealth creation, the role of the Individual” brought together sons and daughters of the Baare as well as teachers and district directors of Education among other dignitaries. The annual festival is celebrated by the chiefs and natives of Baare and all other Talensi’s to give thanks to their ancestors and gods for a prosperous farming season and to appeal for good health and abundant harvest the next season. It is usually climaxed with traditional music and dances to show sign of unity, love and appreciation to the gods. The Traditional Chief of Baare, Naab Nyaakora Mantii used the occasion to outlined challenges facing his community. He expressed concern about the lack of discipline on the part of the youth in society and called for attitudinal change to address the problem. He was not happy about the continuous fallen standard of education in the area and attributed it to a number of factors, including lack of reading and learning. He said students are now use to attending public functions and festivities at the neglect of their books. This, according to him is contributing to the decline in the educational ladder of the country and called on policy makers to help stem the trend. Naab Maanti therefore declared a ban on record dances during funerals in Baare and called on teachers to instill discipline in their children and also inculcate in them good learning habits so as to ensure effective teaching and learning. He also called for the extension of electricity to most parts of the community. The President of the Baare Youth association, Abel Balamguyetime said his outfit aims at fostering unity among the youth and to an extend channel their youthful energy resource to bring development to the community. The association though established two years ago, has been able to undertake developmental activities in the area. He mentioned free extra classes, awards scheme for best performed students and repair of road damages as some of the successes chalked by the association. Mr Balaguyetime described Baare as a tourist potential area and called on the public to patronize these untapped resources. He appealed to the government to help undertake more developmental projects in the area since its one of the biggest communities in terms of land mass. A lecturer at the UDS, Navrongo Campus, Mr. Lun Yin Volemkatmi Donatus UDS, educated participants on how to break the cycles of poverty through wealth creation. This he said could be done by improving upon their financial capabilities. Awards were later given to some deserving students who excelled in the 2009/2010 BECE. Quiz competitions were also organized to climax the occasion.

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