By Joyceline Natally Cudjoe
Kente Weavers at Kasaam
in the Kwabre East District of The Ashanti Region have called on government to
reduce taxes on the imported materials used in Kente weaving.
They argued that the
reduction of the tax would make the product cheap in the market in order to
boost the craft industry.
In an interview with The Ghanaian Times the weavers of
Kwabre East District lamented on the decline in business attributing it to the
high taxes of imported thread and cotton.
Mr. Sarkodie one of the
weavers who was interviewed espoused a concern that the high tax on imported
thread and cotton is slowly collapsing the business.
“We can buy more of the cotton if the
government reduces imposed tax on the imported cottons” he said.
He stretched that if
the government was committed to creating jobs through the one-district
one-factory project, it should act fast to save the existing craft work from
collapsing.
To encourage and
promote the craft industry, the weavers proposed that the government should pay
keen interest to the craft work as their activities play a vital role in the
development of the economy.
Daakye-hene lamented
that the poor working infrastructure makes it tedious for them as they get
beaten whenever it rains.
Based on this he called
on the authorize ministry to build good weaving infrastructure to get them working
at all times.
“Because of the condition
of the infrastructure we hardly work during raining season which makes us run
lost in the Kente weaving business” he said.
The weavers however
appealed to the government to assist them with the requisite resources to
improve their weaving activities.
They said kente is the
most famous and the most celebrated of all the textiles used in Ghana; it is a
tradition which must be preserved to serve as a tourist attraction in the
country.
The weavers stressed
that Kente weaving translates direct employment thus collective effort is
needed to build a common vision for the future generation in order for them to
indulge in the artisanal work.
Kente, known as ‘nwentom’ in Akan, is a type of silk and cotton fabric
made of interwoven cloth strips and it is now being used all over the world for
special ceremonies.
This fabric is mostly
made by Akans in the Ashanti Kingdom such as Bonwire, Adanwomase and Ntonso in the
Kwabre area.
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