The Organising Committee of the Ashanti Regional Choral Competition on Sunday organized a preliminary district choral competition at Maase in the Offinso District.

The event dubbed "Ghana @ 50 Choral Competition" brought together church choirs, singing bands and choral groups within the district.

It was aimed to develop, promote and sustain choral music in the districts and the region at large. It was also to select two groups to represent the district at the regional level to be held in Kumasi in December.

At the end of the competition Offinso Circuit Methodist and Asamankama Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) choral groups scored 71.5 and 67 points to place first and second respectively and were selected to represent the district.

Addressing the participants Nana Wiafe Akenten III, Omanhene of Offinso Traditional Area, expressed concern about indecent music and called for measures to address the problem.

He said choral music competitions were rife in the past and helped to promote fear in the Lord, love, peace and harmony and called for more of such social activities.

Nana Wiafe Akenten said choral music was not different from cultural music and dancing since both contributed to spiritual and physical development and nation building. He urged people who have not as yet registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to do so. Mr Augustine Collins Ntim, Offinso District Chief Executive, called for peaceful co-existence and unity of purpose in the district to enhance development.