The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Lower Manya Krobo, Mr Isaac Agbo-Tetteh, has advised pastors and ministers of the gospel to stop condemning the Dipo custom of the Krobos, in their daily preaching, as biblical principles do not frown on cultural values. The DCE noted with concern that even though the Dipo custom made Krobos complete as a tribe, some men of God, especially the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, always preached seriously against the custom, describing it as worshipping of idols. He, therefore, appealed to such pastors and ministers to refrain from utterances that demeaned the Dipo custom. Mr Agbo-Tetteh explained that every traditional area including the Krobos had valuable customs and traditions that could not be done away with. He said the Dipo custom was a puberty rite that ushered a candidate into womanhood and not an idol that the girls worshipped. Mr Agbo-Tetteh gave the advice at the inauguration of a mechanised hand-dug well with an overhead tank, two standpipes and a bath room for Dipo candidates at Madam, a suburb of Odumase-Krobo in the Eastern Region. The project, which was sponsored by African Women Development Fund (AWDF) with technical support from the Lower Manya Krobo District Assembly, was aimed at improving upon the health needs of girls who undergo the Dipo custom at the Madam Traditional Area. The DCE said modernisation was catching up with a lot of cultural practices and it was important that Dipo celebrating centres should be rehabilitated to catch up with modernity. He said hitherto, water that was being used at the centre could bring about communicable diseases, hence the need to provide potable water for the centre. Mr Agbo-Tetteh praised the Manya Krobo Queens Association for sourcing for funds from AWDF for the project. He was also grateful to the donors for their support. The DCE pledged that three other Dipo centres in the area would also benefit from the project. The Programme Assistant of AWDF, Ms Hilda Gorlluh, said AWDF was a fund-raising and grant-making organisation for African Women, which supports six thematic areas, namely economic empowerment, health and reproductive rights, women's human rights, political participation, HIV/AIDS and peace building. She said the organisation had since 2001 supported 900 women's organisations and groups across the African continent to the tune of about $41.5 million. The leader of the queens, Manya Nateki, said unlike the previous practices where the Dipo candidates went round dancing to the general public after they were initiated, such a practice had been modified to a one-week entrepreneurial skills training. The assembly member for the Abanse Electoral Area, Mr David Walter Yao Mawulolo Hormenu, who is also the Presiding Member of the assembly, pledged to mobilise the people to offer regular communal labour at the Madam traditional site to keep the facility clean always. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana