Festivals in Ghana

Festivals in Ghana occur throughout the whole year and are used as a means to remember their ancestors and to be protected and favoured by them, but they are also held to purify the area and allow its people to go into the new year with hope. They are a year round affair with different regions, ethnic groups and tribes having different celebrations. These rituals and celebrations are an important part of daily life and this can be easily seen by the large gatherings that are seen at festivals, marriages and funerals.

The importance of each festival's celebration includes:

• Planning developmental project. The festival is used as an occasions to meet and plan developmental projects in the area since most citizens are likely to attend.
• Purification of gods. The period is used to clean ancestral stools and perform important rites.
• Thanksgiving. The festival is used to thank the supreme God and the lesser gods for the guidance and protection
• National and political significance. Prominent people in the government are invited to explain government policies and programmes.
• Dispute resolution. The occasion is used to settle family and individual disputes for peaceful co-existence.
• To promote tourism. Some festivals celebrated in Ghana attract many foreign tourists to the country. An example is the Aboakyir festival. Tourism is the third foreign-exchange earner for Ghana.

To preserve and maintain cultural and traditional heritage
The Akan annual calendar is divided into nine parts, each lasting approximately six weeks but varying between 40–42 days in a period; the celebration of this period is called the Adae Festival. The Adae Festival has two celebration days: the Akwasidae Festival is celebrated on the final Sunday of the period, while the Awukudae Festival is celebrated on a Wednesday within the period. The Friday preceding 10 days to the Akwasidae is called the Fofie (meaning a ritual Friday). As the festival is always held on Sundays (Twi in Kwasidae), its recurrence could be after 40 or 42 days in accordance with the official Calendar of Ashanti. During the last Akwasidae of the year, which coincides with the Adae Kese Festival, special attention is given to make food offerings and donations for helping people. The festivals of Adae are not interchangeable as they were fixed from ancient time
The rites on this day relate to honouring personal and community ancestors. A gathering called Akom occurs in which drumming, dancing and singing are a normal celebration to honour Abosom (lesser gods in the Akan tradition) and Nsamanfo (spiritually cultivated ancestors). Food offerings include special items such as eto (mashed African yam), garnished with hard-boiled eggs. Every Ashanti celebrates this festival.For those Ashanti who do not observe the festival of Odwira, the Akwasidae is very important to commemorate their ancestors.
On this day, the Asantehene (King of Ashante) meets his subjects and subordinate chiefs in the courtyard of the Manhyia Palace.The Golden Stool (throne) is displayed at the palace grounds in the presence of the king, and people visit in large numbers, singing and dancing. The king holds his durbar on the occasion of the festival, and people have the liberty to shake hands with him. Before holding the durbar, the king goes in a procession in a palanquin decorated with gold jewelery. He also witnesses a colourful parade, from his palace grounds at Kumasi. Participants of the parade include drum beaters, folk dancers, horn-blowers and singers. As it is festival of paying respect to ancestors, the king visits the Bantama Mausoleum and offers worship not only to his ancestors' chairs (stools), but also to the skeletal remains of his ancestors. It is argued that, the king do not worship the stools and the ancestors, however to pay them homage.

Chair of the Electoral Commission of Ghana responds to sex claims

Chair of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei says she is not perturbed by comments suggesting that she may have traded sex for the position she currently holds.

Speaking for the first time on the issue since she was appointed boss of the electoral commission by former president John Mahama, she said the comments don’t bother her.

“My sense of self should not come from somebody who does not know me. If the person thinks I got my job through sexual favours, surely, there are other more rewarding and less difficult jobs I could use that sexual favours for.

“And in any case, this is man who is sleeping with other women, so why didn’t he give the job to those women,” she queried.

After Mrs Osei was appointed EC boss, Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong said she was behaving as if she got her job by exchanging sexual favours and advised her to “bring your derriere in exchange for the EC Chair position”.
Mr Agyapong was roundly condemned for the comments which he later said were taken out of context.

On the day set aside to celebrate women – International Women’s Day – Mrs Osei responded to the issue.

She was answering a question posed by Samira Bawumia, wife Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, who hosted the International Women's Day edition of Joy FM's Super Morning Show.

Samira wanted to know how Mrs Osei felt when she heard the comments.

In response, the first female head of Ghana's elections governing body, the EC, said although it was unpalatable, she saw it as a challenge to do better.

In her view, men generally tend to prevent women from coming into their space, so once a woman is given the opportunity to be like them, they do all they can to bring her down.

“So they are going to throw everything at you to just to get you out of that space. then you recognize those comments for the distractions that they are and you just focus on doing what you have been called to do and to do an excellent job,” she said.

Instead of letting this get to her, Mrs Osei said she draws strength from God and does only what she’s been told by Him.

“That’s all that matters to me. If God tells me, 'go and do this assignment', I may not like the assignment, but I have to trust that there is a reason why I have been asked to do it. And also you believe that the person who has sent you, will empower you to do it.

“So for me, that is my starting point, and so I go in with that confidence that comes from the person that has given me the assignment.”

She bemoaned the societal attitude which tends to vilify all women and discriminate against them because one woman has failed at a particular assignment.

"We don’t have the right to fail, to make mistakes or to be mediocre, men have been failing throughout history, but they do not think that other men should be judged by the failures of one man," she said.

She encouraged women to psyche themselves up that men will not give them the chance, but they must show up prepared to deliver and also give off their very best at all times.

“So you know that you need to apply yourself, you need to work really hard, you need to be very diligent in what you are doing and you need to constantly add to your knowledge base and your skills.”

Mrs Osei challenged women to acknowledge that they cannot excel at everything they do at the same time and should not be hard on themselves when they fail at a particular thing while they juggle with their roles as mothers and career women.

She advised that women watch out for each other and "be more supportive and less judgemental of other women."

Bimbilla Resident has criticised the Northern Regional House of Chiefs for its silence

Bimbilla Regent, Yakubu Andani Dasana, has criticized the Northern Regional House of Chiefs for its silence on the recent clashes that claimed the lives of at least 10 people.

He said the fatal clash would not have taken place in the first instance had the House intervened in the chieftaincy dispute.

Speaking to members of the Regional House of Chiefs during a visit to his palace Friday, Naa Yakubu Dasana said the people of Bimbilla were betrayed by the House
A misunderstanding between two royal families in Bimbilla over a chieftaincy dispute on February 9, triggered gun battle that led to the death of six women, two children and one man.
The bloody incident compelled government to impose a 12-hour curfew on the area. Many residents have left the area to stay with their relatives in nearby communities.

Bimbilla is associated with perennial chieftaincy disputes and efforts to bring an end to the issue have been futile. Residents blame the two royal families for their inability to reach a compromise on issues.

But Naa Yakubu Dasana blames the other faction for the spate of clashes that take place in the area. He said commentaries on the recent clash have been misreported
'You are chiefs and you know what that means yet none of you came to say anything,' he said speaking through an interpreter adding it was about time the two families sat to address the crux of the issue.

He said he expects the leadership of the other faction to replicate the respect their side extends to them. 'He should also give us that respect.’
We can't keep be in the struggle forever. There will be a time that we will have to sit and talk about the issues,' he said.

He said the Regional House of Chiefs ruled in favour of the Chief of the area who was murdered by the opposing faction.

He appealed to the Regional House of Chiefs to help them give a befitting burial to one of their elders who died in the course of the incident.