The Chiefs and People of Yorogo, a community in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region marked the community’s Maiden Festival, Tigi-Sitaaaba from the the 21st to 28th of December 2019; under the theme, “Fostering unity for total Development”.
As part of celebrating the festival, the community held a durbar on December 28, 2019 where all the eight clans participated in a War dance, exhibition of extinct indigenous food and art.
The maiden Tigi-Sitaaaba festival apart from bringing the people of Yorogo together, served as a platform for fund raising for the construction of an ultra modern Library and ICT complex for the Yorogo Cluster of Schools.
The December 28 durbar had in attendance, representatives of the Bolgatanga Traditional Council, The Municipal Chief Executive for Bolgatanga among other dignitaries.
In an address read on his behalf by Patrick Asebila, the Chief of Yorogo, Naba Kosomo Lebge Seruum, while urging all Yeriba to maintain the peace being enjoyed in the community, the Chief commended the festival committee and the people for staging a colorful event. He also urged the youth and parents to embrace education since it remains the only platform to unearthing the potential of young people, in order to contribute meaningfully to the development of the community. This was on the back of the high school drop-out and teenage pregnancy rate in the area.
“Sadly, Mr. Chairman, many of the youth who are the future of this community are also out of school. And there is no excuse for any child to be out of school especially at the basic and senior high school levels because of the coming into being of free senior high school education. The youth despite efforts to get them to attain the highest level of education continue to engage in acts that truncate their education. Some are more interested in immediate gratification such that they truncate their education to engage in other ventures that cannot guarantee them a secured future. I will at this point entreat parents to continue to talk to their children to take their studies seriously and equally call on young people to be interested in guaranteeing for themselves a brighter future rather than the glamorous but short enjoyment of today. As an educationist, I will urge parents and young people to embrace technical education and to call upon those who unfortunately, are out of school to take keen interest in skill acquisition opportunities available that can equally help guarantee a brighter future for them”.
On his part, the Municipal Chief Executive for Bolgatanga, Joseph Amiyuure Atura congratulated the chiefs and People of Yorogo for a successful festival. He further assured them of the utilization of the Abattoir Complex-B situated in the community and the establishment of a leather factory. The MCE expressed concern about rising streetism in the municipality and called for concerted efforts in dealing with the menace.
Chairman of the Tigi-Sitaaaba festival committee, Dr. Ayimbire Abonuusum in giving a brief history of the festival at the durbar stated that the dire need for communities to make little contributions to augment government’s effort at developing every sector of the country, necessitated the organization of the festival to unite Yeriba to pool their energies together and contribute their widow’s mite to initiate projects as signals to government, NGOs among others that the community is in dire need of development.
He disclosed that contributions made by all the eight communities in Yorogo towards the construction of the Library to be equipped with ICT facilities prior to the festival stood at Forty Thousand Ghana Cedis (40,000).