Mr. John Patrice Kedze, Volta Regional Director of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, has called for an inventory of kente patterns in the country in order to secure copyright for designers of the "national cloth." He observed that designs of kente were being abused by many local and foreign industries through imitation and urged traditional rulers to push for copyright protection of the country's kente. Mr. Kedze was speaking at the opening of a six-day kente exhibition mounted by kente weavers in the Volta Region to showcase their creativity in the industry. The exhibition attracted many stakeholders in the industry including officials of UNESCO. Nene Nuer Keteku III, Konor of Agotime and Chief Exhibitor at the function, said kente was a significant cultural symbol, which was appreciated across cultural boundaries. He said kente designs and their nomenclature represented a rich part of the oral heritage of its custodians. "Kente speaks of the history, culture and values of the societies from which it originated", Nene Nuer Keteku observed. He said the Kente cloth had attained a national and international stature and expressed the hope that its regular exhibition would draw attention to the need to rediscover the Ewe Kente cloth with its indigenous designs whose memory had been lost. Source: GNA