Chiefs deserve bigger role in governance - Vice-President says at Homowo
The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has reiterated the importance of the chieftaincy institution in the development of the country, stressing that there was the need to increase the role of chiefs in governance for national development.
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He said chiefs, as an embodiment of their people, were agents of development who should not be relegated to the background in the national development agenda.
“Ghana has made a mistake since independence by trying to keep chiefs from governance. It has not helped us. We need to bring chiefs closer to governance to help in the development of this country.
“Many disputes can be resolved in the palace without going to court. We must, therefore, uplift the chieftaincy institution,” Dr Bawumia said when he joined the chiefs and people of Ga Mashie to celebrate the Homowo festival in Accra last Saturday.
Dr Bawumia called on the Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, as he made his entry into Ga Mashie to partake in the festival.
He was accompanied by the Interior Minister, Henry Quartey; the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Titus Glover, and the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund, Irene Naa Torshie Addo.
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addision, and other prominent dignitaries in both state and private corporate environments had earlier visited the Ga Mantse to wish him and his people well as they mark the annual festival.
Ga Mashie celebrated the festival in an ecstatic, fervent and joyous mood, amid traditional rites, including drumming, dancing and musketry.
Ga Mashie
From James Town to Bukom, Korle Gonno, Mamprobi and many towns that make up Ga Mashie, people made merry and opened their doors to visitors to eat and share in their joy as they honoured the festive day.
The festival was observed by the six divisions that make up Ga Mashie — Asere, Abola, Gbese, Otublohum, Sempe and Akanmadjen.
In accordance with custom, the Gbese Mantse, Nii Ayi-Bonte II, who is the Adonten (Head of Military) of the Ga State, began the activities with the sprinkling of kpokpoi — the traditional meal made from corn — from his palace through the principal streets of Ga Mashie to the Usher Fort.
The other Paramount Chiefs of the various divisions also sprinkled the traditional food in their various jurisdictions after which the Ga Mantse took over and performed the same rites in the 21 houses that form the Ga Mashie royal stool.
It was a sea of red in Ga Mashie as the indigenes and their chiefs walked through the principal streets of Accra to celebrate the festival.
Although Homowo is a festival of celebration to hoot at hunger, it is characterised by the wearing of red attire to mourn the ancestors of the Ga people who died as a result of the great famine that birthed the festival of bountiful harvest.
After the traditional rites, various stands were set up to share the kpokpoi to willing partakers.
Blessings
King Teiko Tsuru prayed for the people of Ga Mashie and the entire country, asking for blessings, peace and unity for the country.
He said Homowo signified a new year for the Ga people, and that it was, therefore, his prayer that the Almighty God would continue to bless the country, bless the work of the people and help the country to deal with challenges that confronted it.
“We will have life, enjoy peace and continue to be one people. Our work will prosper, and we will continue to be a beacon of peace, unity and democracy in Africa,” the Ga Mantse said.
Homowo, which refers to hooting at hunger, is celebrated by the Ga people in remembrance of a bumper harvest after a prolonged famine and drought that befell their ancestors during their migration to present day Ghana.
It is celebrated by all the people of the Ga ethnic descent, and is symbolised by the sprinkling of kpokpoi — a traditional food of maize eaten with palm nut soup — by the chiefs and priests and family heads of the Ga people.
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The largest part of the meal is then shared among families, friends and visitors as proof of the abundance of food for everybody, and as a symbol of food adequacy for which people must eat to welcome the New Year.
The festival is also an opportunity for the people of Ga to come together, celebrate their unique culture and resolve any lingering differences and misunderstandings among them.
Peace
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Gbese Mantse appealed for peace among the people of Ga and all Ghanaians before, during and after the 2024 elections.
“We have only one Ghana, one community, and one destiny; whoever we vote for as President is just another Ghanaian like any and all of us. Therefore, we must let peace reign, whether we voted for them or not,” Nii Ayi-Bonte said.
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