The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, has cautioned ethnic groups in the country not to claim superiority over nor look down on others but learn to live in peace and harmony with them. “No ethnic group should claim superiority over the other or look down on the others. You must endeavour to live in harmony and resist any attempt by self-seekers who may try to sow seeds of discord,” he said. The Vice President was addressing a durbar of the chiefs and people of Suhum in the Suhum- Kraboa- Coaltor District of the Eastern Region to mark their annual Odwira Festival on Saturday. The festival is celebrated to bring the people together, showcase their cultural identity and re-examine their past and present achievements so as to plan for the future. The Vice President said the Suhum area was cosmopolitan, with different tribes and ethnic groups, some of whom were from other West African countries. “This cosmopolitan mix in population comes with its different religious persuasions, beliefs, practices and traditions, as well as dressing code. Variety, they say, is the spice of life,” he noted. In view of that diversity, Alhaji Mahama commended the chiefs and people of the area for maintaining ethnic balance and harmony and urged them to use peaceful means to settle differences whenever they occurred. The Vice President advised Ghanaians to marshal all their efforts and resources to collectively fight poverty, ignorance and disease. He announced that 1.1 billion cedis and 71 billion cedis had been received under the Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Programme, respectively for the district. The Vice President said the district was benefiting from the construction of 20 boreholes. The Suhumhene, Barimah Ayeh Kofi II, expressed grave concern about the National Association of Graduate Teachers strike, saying that it was having a toll on school children and appealed to NAGRAT members to rescind their decision. The chief welcomed the steps being taken to combat the drug trade and menace in the country. Source: Graphic