The Chief of Agyendam, a fast developing community in the Asebu Traditional Area, in the Central Region, is gradually printing his name in gold, as far as the development of his community is concerned.
The young chief, who took up the reigns of leadership about two years ago, as the chief of the town, has won the trust, respect and total support of his people, following his desire to have his community developed.
Nana Benyin XIII has instituted a Day-Care Centre with teachers he pays from his own resources, to take care of the pre-school children in the community, whilst meals are prepared free of charge for the kids.
The purpose of this initiative has been to ensure that mothers, who are mostly farmers, would leave their children safely at the Day-Care Centre and go to their farms, and pick them up when they return.
He has also solely financed the construction of a Community Centre which is said to be the first of its kind in the entire traditional area.
Just last week, Nana Benyin XIII officially cut sod to construct an ultramodern school for the Agyendam Community, as part of his vision to improve the standard of education in the town.
The facility would consist of a 6-unit classroom block for primary 1 to 6, staff common room for teachers, a library and an office for the head teacher of the school.
Additionally, the ultramodern school block would comprise a three-unit classroom for JHS 1 to 3, a library, staff office, headmaster’s office, whilst separate modern toilet facilities would be constructed on the same compound for both staff of JHS and Primary pupils.
It would also have a recreational facility where the pupils would play football and other games.
At the sod cutting ceremony to commence the project, Nana Benyin disclosed that an old school built for the community many years ago has lost its usefulness.
He said; “Our children cannot remain in their classrooms whenever it rains, because the roofing has been damaged and the classrooms get flooded because the area has become waterlogged.
I am very much concerned about the future of our dear children and since education is so dear to my heart, I decided to take this initiative to ensure that our children could have sound environment for their education.
We all know that education is a shared responsibility and this is the little we could do as a community to secure the future of our children and grandchildren, who will take up the mantle of leadership from us in the near future.
As a matter of fact, chieftaincy has rapidly moved from the period where chiefs led their subjects to wars to conquer territories in the past, to a completely new era in Ghana today.
Chiefs have become agents of development and this explains why modern chiefs promote the development of their various chiefdoms through various socio-economic initiatives, just as Nana Benyin XIII is vigorously pursuing to make life better for his people.
It is worth mentioning that Nana Benyin XIII does not earn anything like royalties or big money from the activities of mining.
It is fact that issues such as double sale of lands, unnecessary litigations, giving out lands to illegal miners among others, are negative practices which have the potential to ruin the progress of communities’ development.
Chiefs must be aware of these developments and focus their attentions on how best they could lead their communities not as warriors as it was the case in the past but as agents of developments.
We doff off our hats to Nana Benyin XIII and all other chiefs who are significantly charting a path that would bring unity, development and promote the education of their people.
This, we believe, is one of the surest means through which chiefs can complement the efforts of the central government.
