Mr Henry Quartey, Greater Accra Regional Minister, says government is to build a research centre for Ga Dangbe people to archive and their tradition and culture.

The centre, which is expected to be completed by August 2022, seeks to protect and preserve the history of Ga Dangbe.

The Minister made the promise during the 2021 Homowo Lecture series organised by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Osu District, Accra.

The lecture, which was on the theme: " the Ga Language: God's Divine Gift to the Ga People " formed part of activities to mark this year's Homowo festival.

Mr Quartey said it was about time the people of Ga Dangbe stood for their rights in preserving their culture and language.

"We are using modern methods in teaching the language so we are setting up a research centre to bring the collection together, to enable visits to such places to study the language," he added.

"I'll advise that we should set aside a place to build a centre to preserve our Ga-Adangbe books, history, and archives.

"We will lobby to get people to donate computers for the facility. Everything is now moving online. We should work on what I've spoken about. We can call it the Ga-Adangbe research centre, so our history and everything about us is kept there.

"We can even roll out the scholarship initiative I spoke about through the secretariat of the research centre. We have to ensure that the facility is ready in a year's time,"he said.

The Minister also announced that government would soon roll-out scholarship package for children in Ga communities to access to quality education.

He said this would equip Ga Dangbe natives with the necessary skills to make them well-placed for the job market and reduce unemployment in the communities.

To achieve this, the Minister says a committee would soon be instituted to proffer modalities for the implementation of the initiative.

"We've had discussions. I need your help to ensure that Ga-Adangbe students from Junior High School receive scholarships from us.

From Ada to La Dadekotopong Municipal Assembly, even if we are awarding 10 scholarships in each place, they can become graduates and serve as civil servants, which will be good for us. I'll institute a committee to make this happen," he said.

Among other plans put in place by the Minister is the prioritization of the teaching of the Ga language in basic schools in the region.

"During my vetting, I promised that the Ga language would be taught in schools in the region. I've already discussed this with the Education Minister. The Ministry will soon put a system in place to bring in more Ga teachers for the schools," he said.

The Minister also used the occasion to advise against acts of division between members of the Ga community, adding that the manner in which the Greater Accra Region lags behind can probably be reversed if indigenes foster unity among themselves for a collective goal.

He urged all Ga Dangbe chiefs to end all forms chieftaincy disputes to ensure peace to in Ga communities.