When Akyems who love their traditional area dearly, meet, they say to each other in greeting: ''Okyenman, yen ema ensei da!"
What it means in English is simply that they will never allow Okyenman to be ruined.
It is hard to believe that a traditional area whose most fervant indigenes make such vows of fealty that imply a committment to its physical and cultural preservation, has ended up as one of the areas in Ghana most affected by environmental degradation resulting from the egregious activities of illegal gold miners and illegal loggers.
Yet, the Akyem Abuakwa traditional area has enormous potential as an ecotourism destination - if what is left of its natural heritage is preserved: to underpin a green and sustainable local economy that can create tens of thousands of jobs for the young people who live there.
As it happens, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) enjoys tremendous support throughout Okyenman. It must do something to improve the quality of life of the people of Okyenman and lift living standards in all the rural communities there, if it wants to maintain their loyalty.
Luckily, President Akufo-Addo's administration now has an opportunity to appoint a new district chief executive (DCE), for Fanteakwa District, who can set an example to DCEs throughout Ghana on how rural communities can benefit from low-carbon development strategies - such as agro-forestry and community-based ecotourism by preserving what is left of their natural heritage.
That person is the Hon. Gyeatuo. For the best of national interest reasons, this blog humbly recommends to the powers that be that Hon. Gyetuo, the current Assemblyman for Akyem Saamang, is appointed to the vacant position of DCE for the Fanteakwa District in the Eastern Region, when the time comes to appoint assembly heads nationwide.
He is an exceptional man by any standard - and an amazing community leader: who is principled in a nation in which there is an unfortunate dearth of principled individuals.
Over the years, that incorruptible and selfless gentleman - who is an assistant headteacher incidentally - has risked his own life fighting illegal loggers and illegal gold miners in the area. He has been a dynamic Assemblyman who has consistently sought to improve the lives of his constituents.
He has been a real change-agent who has impacted his community positively - whiles at all material times regularly rejecting the blandishments of the wealthy criminal syndicates behind the area's illegal gold mining and illegal logging: who have succeeded in virtually compromising most of the officials manning the machinery of state in the area.
Through his leadership, for example, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has built a primary school block in Akyem Saamang. And he has collaborated with the anti-mining NGO WACAM and A Rocha the international green organisation, as an environmental activist working hard to protect the delicate ecosystem in that section of the Atewa Range, which borders the area.
The Hon. Gyeatuo would make a perfect DCE for Fanteakwa District - and will be a very good representative of the President of the Republic of Ghana whiles heading the Fanteakwa District Assembly. His impressive track record thus far provides ample evidence of that.
He will definitely bring about real change in the lives of all the people who live in the Fanteakwa District - which is precisely what President Akufo-Addo wants for the entire Ghanaian populace, one believes.
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