The rise in the get-rich-quick attitude, popularly known as “Sakawa” and the attendant ostentatious lifestyle among some of the youth at Odomase in the Sunyani West Municipality, has attracted the displeasure of the Odomase Number One Traditional Council.
In that regard, the Traditional Council says it is working out modalities and would soon question the source of the sudden wealth and riches of some of the youth, engaged in money rituals.
Describing the situation as alarming, Nana Yaa Adanse Poduo II, the Paramount Queen-mother of the Odomase Number One Traditional Area, said the Council had met, and agreed to invite and interrogate some of the suspected young people engaged in the practice.
“They have to answer questions about their source of sudden wealth and riches. We believe they are not natives, and we can’t allow them to lure our innocent young people into money.
This Sakawa practice is rare in Odomase and we would not allow that to continue,” the Queen-mother indicated.
In an interview with the media on the sidelines of the enstoolment of a new sub-queen held at Odomase Number One, Nana Poduo II, called on the residents to report those supposedly involved in the practice to the traditional council for questioning.
Earlier, the Paramount Queen-mother performed traditional rites to seal the enstoolment of Nana Akua Gyau Adanse I, a 60-year-old Sunyani-based businesswoman as the Abakomahemaa (a kingmaker) of the Odomase Number One Traditional Area.
Nana Poduo II also expressed worry about sexual promiscuity, drug abuse and unhealthy lifestyle of the youth in the area, saying “these Sakawa miscreants are luring our young people into all these dangerous behaviours”.
On her part, the new queen-mother, known in private life as Nana Gyau, also expressed concern about the rise in teenage pregnancy in the area, and promised to help bring the situation under control.
She expressed appreciation to the chiefs and people of the area for the honour and the confidence reposed in her and rallied their support towards the upbringing and holistic development of girls in the area.
Nana Gyau said she had also prioritised girl-child education and pledged to support some of the needy and brilliant girls to access quality education.