Cape-Coast, Sept. 3, The 'old Elmina road', running across the Fosu lagoon to Ola Estates in Cape Coast, was closed to motor traffic on Tuesday afternoon. By 3 p.m. that day, the 500-metre stretch of road was already choked with thousands of people who had come from neighbouring towns, suburban Cape Coast and from PANAFEST to take part in the Bakatue - an annual event which symbolises the opening of Cape Coast Fosu lagoon to usher in the Oguaa Fetu Afahye - the festival of the people of Cape Coast. Stern-faced policemen had been stationed at both ends of the blockade to ensure that no vehicles crossed the barriers. After a short while, the officer at the town hall end of the road was called to duty - to prevent an intruder from driving into the crowd. ''Stop! who be you - and where you think you dey go,'' he yelled angrily at the driver of a Golf GTI saloon car which drove slowly across the ''no go'' line. The driver obliged, stopped the car and turned desperately to his passengers. Then pandemonium broke out almost immediately as ace comedian ''Nkomode'' hopped out of the car first, followed by Dr Rokoto, another comic star and later by Mame Dokono of ''Obra'' fame. The entire Cape Coast municipality appeared to have been waiting for the trio, thanks to announcements made on Cape Coast FM to the effect that the three would be arriving in town for a comedy extravaganza at the town hall on Bakatue night. It was Dr.Rokoto who reacted for the group. ''Please we have come from Accra to watch the bakatue,'' he said in twi. On impulse, the policeman quickly modified his gate-keeping tactics; he displayed a broad, friendly smile and swung his right arm towards the lagoon and said ''move on, sa!'' But his generosity came a shade too late, before the driver could even start the engine the occupants of the car were already mobbed by the thousands of fans. Now as the crowd grew more and more hysteric, the policeman had the arduous duty of ensuring safe passage for the car as it crawled through the crowd across the lagoon. Less than an hour earlier, the spotlight had been on Bakano (the lagoon embankment), where Nana Kweku Arhin, Acting President of the Oguaa Traditional Council, Nana Amba Eyiaba, Krontihemaa of Oguaa Traditional Area and Supi Minnah, Chairman of the Afahye Planning Committee, watched a canoe regatta. The regatta always precedes the ritual which symbolically lifts the ban on fishing in the lagoon. Nine canoe teams competed in the regatta in which ''Yereye Bi Ahwe'' out-paddled ''Nana Betse'' and ''Ntoboase'' to second and third positions respectively in the final race. The Bakatue ritual itself was performed by the ''Apofohen'' (chief fisherman) of Cape Coast on the last Tuesday before the 'Afahye' festival. A three-month-long ban on fishing in the Fosu lagoon was lifted when the Apofohen uprooted a wooden rod which he planted in the lagoon months before the ban. As the ceremony progressed, brassband music flowed freely from the sidelines while colourfully dressed masqueraders danced their way through the crowd. This was how the tourists, visitors and participants at the on- going Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival (PANAFEST) experienced the very first of a number of traditional Fetu Afahye programmes which will coincide with the international festival. By making the two festivals run at the same time, the planners of PANAFEST '97 sought primarily to cash in on the typically traditional ambience of Fetu Afahye as well as take advantage of the heavy attendance known to characterise the Oguaa festival. As it turned out yesterday, however, it is now unclear which of the two festivals will take advantage of the other, as most of the glamour at the Bakatue was offered by the large presence of curious PANAFEST participants and a couple of foreign television crew originally filming the Pan-African festival.
Cape-Coast, Sept. 3, The 'old Elmina road', running across the Fosu lagoon to Ola Estates in Cape Coast, was closed to motor traffic on Tuesday afternoon. By 3 p.m. that day, the 500-metre stretch of road was already choked with thousands of people who had come from neighbouring towns, suburban Cape Coast and from PANAFEST to take part in the Bakatue - an annual event which symbolises the opening of Cape Coast Fosu lagoon to usher in the Oguaa Fetu Afahye - the festival of the people of Cape Coast. Stern-faced policemen had been stationed at both ends of the blockade to ensure that no vehicles crossed the barriers. After a short while, the officer at the town hall end of the road was called to duty - to prevent an intruder from driving into the crowd. ''Stop! who be you - and where you think you dey go,'' he yelled angrily at the driver of a Golf GTI saloon car which drove slowly across the ''no go'' line. The driver obliged, stopped the car and turned desperately to his passengers. Then pandemonium broke out almost immediately as ace comedian ''Nkomode'' hopped out of the car first, followed by Dr Rokoto, another comic star and later by Mame Dokono of ''Obra'' fame. The entire Cape Coast municipality appeared to have been waiting for the trio, thanks to announcements made on Cape Coast FM to the effect that the three would be arriving in town for a comedy extravaganza at the town hall on Bakatue night. It was Dr.Rokoto who reacted for the group. ''Please we have come from Accra to watch the bakatue,'' he said in twi. On impulse, the policeman quickly modified his gate-keeping tactics; he displayed a broad, friendly smile and swung his right arm towards the lagoon and said ''move on, sa!'' But his generosity came a shade too late, before the driver could even start the engine the occupants of the car were already mobbed by the thousands of fans. Now as the crowd grew more and more hysteric, the policeman had the arduous duty of ensuring safe passage for the car as it crawled through the crowd across the lagoon. Less than an hour earlier, the spotlight had been on Bakano (the lagoon embankment), where Nana Kweku Arhin, Acting President of the Oguaa Traditional Council, Nana Amba Eyiaba, Krontihemaa of Oguaa Traditional Area and Supi Minnah, Chairman of the Afahye Planning Committee, watched a canoe regatta. The regatta always precedes the ritual which symbolically lifts the ban on fishing in the lagoon. Nine canoe teams competed in the regatta in which ''Yereye Bi Ahwe'' out-paddled ''Nana Betse'' and ''Ntoboase'' to second and third positions respectively in the final race. The Bakatue ritual itself was performed by the ''Apofohen'' (chief fisherman) of Cape Coast on the last Tuesday before the 'Afahye' festival. A three-month-long ban on fishing in the Fosu lagoon was lifted when the Apofohen uprooted a wooden rod which he planted in the lagoon months before the ban. As the ceremony progressed, brassband music flowed freely from the sidelines while colourfully dressed masqueraders danced their way through the crowd. This was how the tourists, visitors and participants at the on- going Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival (PANAFEST) experienced the very first of a number of traditional Fetu Afahye programmes which will coincide with the international festival. By making the two festivals run at the same time, the planners of PANAFEST '97 sought primarily to cash in on the typically traditional ambience of Fetu Afahye as well as take advantage of the heavy attendance known to characterise the Oguaa festival. As it turned out yesterday, however, it is now unclear which of the two festivals will take advantage of the other, as most of the glamour at the Bakatue was offered by the large presence of curious PANAFEST participants and a couple of foreign television crew originally filming the Pan-African festival.
