EFFUTUS CELEBRATE ABOAKYER FESTIVAL (PAGE 49)

Story: Joe Okyere & Nehemia Owusu Achiaw, Winneba

THE people of the Effutu Traditional Area celebrated their annual Aboakyer Festival, with a call from President J.A. Kufuor to them to bury their differences and take advantage of the elevation of Winneba to a municipal status to develop the area.
Addressing a well-attended durbar of Effutu chiefs and people at Winneba on Saturday to mark the event, President Kufuor said unless there was unity among the people, no amount of expenditure on roads, water, electricity, schools or health facilities could unearth the great potential of the area.
Aboakyer, which literally means “catching a live deer”, is celebrated in remembrance of a war god of the Effutus who was said to have helped them in various ways.
The Tuafo Asafo Company was the first of the two Asafo companies to bring a live deer to the durbar grounds, amid drumming, dancing and wild jubilation, to climax the festival.
The Omanhene of the Effutu Traditional Area, Neenyi Ghartey VII, in line with tradition, stepped on the animal three times to declare the Tuafo Asafo Company the winner of the deer hunt for the year.
The festival was also used to honour President Kufuor by naming a boulevard in Winneba after him.
The durbar was attended by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, the flag bearer of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), and Mr Dan Lartey, the Leader of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP).
President Kufuor said the new status of Winneba, a municipality had come with new responsibilities which could only be carried out in an atmosphere devoid of jealousies, rivalries and disputes.
“It is, therefore, disturbing when every celebration of the Aboakyer Festival is characterised with one dispute or another,” he said
“The huge deployment of state resources in the form of police presence and a series of municipal security council and regional security council meetings held prior to the celebration of this noble festival is untenable,” he added.
The President said annual festivals had been used by people of traditional areas as occasions to take stock of events and plan together for the future progress of their respective areas.
That objective, he said, could only be achieved when the present generation of Effutus buried their differences and created a congenial atmosphere so that the festival could be used to plan for the total growth and development of Effutuland and its environs.
He, therefore, urged the people to leave the past behind them and forge unity among themselves.
President Kufuor said the Effutu Traditional Area had had its fair share of development projects from both the municipal assembly and other national agencies and mentioned the construction of the safe landing facility for fishermen in the area, the Muni Lagoon project and a hotel tourism resort as some of the projects which were either underway or in the pipeline.
On the upcoming general election, President Kufuor appealed to the people to ensure free and fair elections and further advised potential voters to take advantage of the voters registration exercise to register.
For his part, Neenyi Ghartey said in recognition of President Kufuor’s hard work and his great contribution to national development, the Effutu State had deemed it fit and proper to name a new boulevard in Winneba after him.
“May it please Your Excellency to accept this gesture as a token deep affection and high esteem for your person and appreciation of your labour of love for this nation,” he said.
Neenyi Ghartey said President Kufuor had worked so hard over the past seven years to achieve enviable economic, social and political stability for the country and had sown the seed for the future development of the resources which would ensure the country’s attainment of a middle-income status.