Ehi climaxes Gari Festival
The Chief and People of Ehi in the Ketu North District of the Volta Region would take their turn to climax their unique Gari Za or Gari Festival this weekend.
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It is the celebration of a tradition, emancipation of an ethnic group and the reunion with their origins as a people who see agriculture as vital.
Ehi is a friendly, welcoming and vibrant community and the diversity of the community and its ethnicities have served as binding chords.
The festival
Ehi Gari Za is a harvest festival with a focus on gari processing. Cassava cultivation and its associated processing into gari have been part of the traditional occupation and culture of the people for ages.
The people believe Ehi is one of the best sources of delicious gari in the sub-region. That enterprise, they assert, should be promoted for the fuller realization of its economic benefits.
Traditional Occupation
For a community to be sustainable, human empowerment and promotion of traditional occupation are very important. The people, through the festival, want to promote the development of Ehi, employing their inherited traditions, food, occupation and festival. They are mainly farmers and kente weavers, blacksmiths, fishermen, traders and distillers.
The chief crops of the people are cassava, potato, rice, maize, cowpea, onion, pepper, tomatoes, garden eggs, cashew and many others. Its women are specialized in gari processing which is a major occupation for them.
Gari is a popular staple within the West African sub-region, and it is no wonder that Ehi is actively involved as a major supplier of gari to markets in Ghana Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire.
The History
Located within the Ketu North District of the Volta region, Ehi has a rich, exciting history unknown to many Ghanaians and the world at large.
Local folklore has it that the land of Ehi as is currently situated was part of a compensation package given to the people of Weta, by the people of Penyi for assisting them in a war against a tribe called Eseawo.
Eseawo was a very rude tribe that used to torment the people of Penyi. It is said that this “carnivorous tribe” could slash open pregnant women of Penyi just to see if the yet-to-be-born babies were male or female.
The people of Penyi therefore solicited the support of the people of Weta to help fight and drive away the Eseawo tribe and to compensate Weta, the current geographical area called Ehi was given to Weta.
Ehi, which literally means, it has been paid, or that Penyi has paid Weta for the work done, therefore has its people originating from Weta. Compensation agreement was done at a place called “Adruveme” which exists today at Ehi.
Torgbui Dzeble-Adukpo IV
Leadership under Torgbui Adukpo
Traditionally, Torgbui Dzeble-Adukpo IV, Dufia Senior Divisional Chief and his other 21 divisional chiefs preside over the area as traditional rulers with over 50 communities under them.
At the Gari Za, a lot of citizens, well-wishers including those abroad and at various parts of Ghana return home to partake in the activities and discuss the development of the town.
From his enstoolment, Torgbui Adukpo has brought together all citizens to find ways of developing Ehi which has lacked infrastructural development for some time now.
To him the main focus was unity and development. He said they hold the trump card to the development of the community.
Tourism
Adding to Ehi’s mystery is the presence of a three-in-one palm tree with one trunk. It is acclaimed to be over 100 years old and withstands both dry and cold weathers without withering.
The chief and his kinsmen
Festival Activities
This year’s Gari Za commenced August 19 and will end on September 30. Lectures on cassava cultivation and gari processing, cultural display by the various sub communities have been held.
There have also been quiz competitions amongst schoolchildren, sporting activities amongst the youth and a health screening exercise, while a beauty pageant on Friday and a grand durbar on Saturday 30th September, will climax this year’s celebrations.
Artistes billed to perform include Ayigbe Edem, Agbeshie, Black T from Togo, CM, and C money until Sunday when a thanksgiving service would be held.
The activities are supported by partners including Graphic Business, TV Africa, Aryton Drugs, Tobinco Pharmacy, Guinness Ghana limited, GIHOC Distilleries, Indomie Noodles, MTN, and Freedom Guest House at Ehi, Citizens of Ehi and other philanthropists.
