The Amakomhene, Nana Adu Mensah Asare, has reminded organisers of homecoming events to ensure that they use them to initiate the development of their local communities.

He explained that although it is the responsibility of the government to spearhead the development of communities, using the homecoming events to initiate development would complement the government's effort at developing communities across the country.

Nana Adu Mensah Asare announced this on Sunday during a thanksgiving service to climax the "Amakom Homecoming" in Kumasi.

The week-long event saw natives of Amakom from across the globe coming home to socialise, participate in a durbar of chiefs and people to discuss the development of Amakom, engage in a health walk, health screening and music festival among other events.

The well-attended thanksgiving service was attended by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei Mensah, the Mayor of Kumasi, Mr Sam Pyne and other politicians, religious leaders, heads of institutions and traditional authorities among others.

Commendation
Nana Adu Mensah Asare commended residents of Amakom and its surrounding communities for the peace in the area and urged them to continue living in peace with people with diverse religions, political affiliations, ethnic backgrounds etc.

He appealed to the government to help expand education infrastructure in the area to absorb the increasing population which has led to congestion in schools in the area.

The Amakomhene appealed to all natives of Amakom and other communities to consider going back and supporting the development of their communities as a way of helping to improve the standard of living of the people.

Appreciation gesture
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, praised the Amakomhene and the organisers of the event for the initiative which stands the chance of uniting the people and promoting the development of the area.

He appealed to the people to continue to be law-abiding and provide the right information to the security services when necessary to enable them to protect them at all times.

The Regional Minister described the usage of Kente cloth as ceremonial wear for the thanksgiving service as a great gesture since it would lead to many people appreciating the use of Kente at various functions.

Registration of your designs
He called on weavers of Kente to consider registering the designs so they could claim the patent right of the designs so that no other person or producers print the same for sale.

The Chairman of the Amakom Home Coming Committee, Mr Patrick Antwi Tuffour, eulogised the Amakomhene and other sponsors of the event which has brought about much development in the Amakom community.

He urged the youth to continue studying hard since they belonged to the "Inner City" group of people who only have education as the only means of making a living.

Mr Tuffour called on the Member of Parliament for the area and the government to consider constructing an Astroturf football pitch for the youth to help them develop their talents in football and other sporting activities.

Again, he explained that the construction of the Astroturf would serve as a good recreational facility which would help engage the youth meaningfully so they do not go around roaming around when they are free.

Background
The first "Amakom Home Coming" event was started in 2019 by four young natives of Amakom who taught of bringing their people together to socialise and find ways of helping raise resources towards the development of the area.

This year's event saw the handing over of a renovated Amakom Division JHS "A" block back to the leadership of the school for use after the previous Home Coming events identified the state of the school building and raised the needed resources for its renovation.

Apart from the handing over of the renovated school building to the school, the Amakom Homecoming team has in the past two years been organising resources to pay for mock examinations for JHSs in the area to ease the burden of parents in the community among other support.