According to Madam Susana Bamila, a Kente weaver, and a former Treasurer of the Association, said Mrs Bawumia‘s taste for the locally-woven clothes and products had inspired and kept many of the weavers in business.
“We admire her lot for her delight in locally-made products and that has encouraged us to remain in business and produce more products”, she stated, saying “we always see the former first lady dress in local fabrics and that is highly inspiring”.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Techiman, the Bono Regional capital, as Ghana marks the Heritage Month, Madam Bamila expressed concern about poor patronage of locally-made products.
That, she added, was making it difficult for the association to innovate and weave more of the locally-made clothes and products, saying the poor patronage of the products put many of the weavers into economic loss.
“We are unable to bring up more initiatives into the business because if you do so Ghanaians will not even buy the local cloth”, she lamented, and called on the government to do something to make the industry attractive and to also increase Ghanaians appetite for locally-made products.
Madam Bamila said the industry had huge economic prospects that could widen the nation’s foreign income earnings, saying huge investments ought to be put into the industry and to create jobs for the youth and also preserved the nation’s culture and tradition.
“Our association used to produce huge quantities of the local Kente cloth, however, the poor patronage has discouraged many of the weavers because when they produce they don’t get the ready market for their products ”, she stated.
Madam Bamila expressed worry that the raw materials for the local fabric remained expensive, and thereby made the cost of the locally-made cloth and products more expensive too.
Miss Susan Bawa, an apprentice at the Bono East Regional Secretariat for the Centre for National Culture Weavers Centre indicated that weaving remained a lucrative business only when the products had ready market with encouraging patronage.
Comparatively, she noted that though the locally-made products seemed expensive, it reflected the true culture and identity of people, and urged Ghanaians to develop the taste for it and patronise it to preserve their identity and dignity as Ghanaians.
“Our products are of high quality and we should not forget that if we buy them we also contribute to the economic development of the nation”, Ms Bawa stated.
GNA
