The Overlord of Nzemaland, King Kaku Aka III, has expressed worry over how his area continues to lag behind in development despite the abundant natural resources.
He thus, urged government to ensure that people in the Nzema area get a fair of proceeds from exploitation of oil and gas and other mineral resources such as gold.
King Kaku Aka III known in private life as Mr. Isaac Ettie-Amihere, was speaking to journalists on emerging oil and gas as well as mining companies and the state of Nzemaland at Awiaso in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region.
He asked government to establish a University in Nzema and award scholarships to train the youth in the area as the required manpower fit for employment in the oil and gas as well as emerging companies such as the Ghana National Petroleum Development hub project in the Jomoro Municipality.
The Overlord also proposed a Referral Hospital in the Nzema area to respond quickly to emergencies from oil and gas as well as mining operations.
According to him, development in Nzema required unity, love and peace among all the seven paramount chiefs, divisional chiefs and queen mothers therefore he advise them to bury their differences, litigations, conflicts and disputes which have retarded progress of Nzema.
King Kaku Aka III revealed that he had extended invitations to the paramount chiefs and other traditional rulers in the area when he was enstooled in 2014 to resolve conflicts and forge ahead in unity and development but some came others were not willing to come.
He used the occasion to drum home the message that he did not harbor any evil sentiment against any paramount chief or traditional ruler but was ready to settle disputes and foster unity and development.
King Kaku Aka III said Nzema was being cheated by companies exploiting natural resources which required unity of purpose from all traditional rulers to fight for equitable shares from the resources to better the living conditions of their people and propel the rapid socio-economic development of Nzemaland.
“All chiefs in Nzema must know that there is one united Nzema so all must unite to give peace and development a chance” he said.
He observed that with unity, the traditional rulers could fight for unemployed youth especially graduates from the Universities in the area to be employed in the emerging companies.
On the emerging Petroleum Hub Project in the Jomoro Municipality, King Kaku Aka called for an open forum in Nzema to allow the youth express their concerns, give a quota of employment to Nzemas and enter into proper agreement between government and traditional rulers.
The Nzema King explained that “no Nzema man is laying claim to ownership of the oil and gas and others. It all belongs to Ghanaians but wherever resources are found, it is important that the people over there at least enjoy a modicum of happiness from those particular resources.”
He embraced the Petroleum Hub Project but reiterated the need for government to scale down the land size from an initial 20,000 acres to 5,000 acres of land to avoid generational losses of land.
The Nzema King also appealed to President Nana Akufo-Addo to ensure that government did not encroach on the Ankasa forest reserve strictly meant for game to protect animal species in their natural habitat.
