Kpone Alata priestesses angry over attack on shrine, threaten to boycott Homowo

The priestesses of the Kpone Alata Traditional Area, located in the Greater Accra Region, have announced their intention to boycott the upcoming 2023 Homowo festival, slated for August 28, 2023, over an attack on their shrine by a stranger.

According to the Chronicle News Paper dated August 14, 2023, Nii Oko of Agyeman, who oversees the Abonsu Kofi Priestess, conveyed their deep dismay over the trespassing and desecration of the sacred shrine by an individual named Tetteh Ashong.

According to the priestesses, Tetteh Ashong, accompanied by a group of individuals and heavy police protection, forcibly entered the shrine to carry out rituals that were not within their authority.

The priestesses made this known in a news conference organized in the Greater Accra Region ahead of the Homowo festival.

"Abonsu Kofi has worshippers, and they are the only ones permitted into the shrine on its annual sacred day; Friday, to worship and perform rites to appease it. Therefore, for somebody unknown to Abonsu Kofi to break into the shrine to disturb it and take pictures of the privacy of the deity and post them on social media, is sacrilegious to the deity.

"The thugs who accompanied the said man to Abonsu Kofi shrine to commit the impiety also manhandled the few youths of Alata who had gone to the shrine to protect the priestesses," Nii Oko said according to the Chronicle News Paper.

The head of the Alata priestesses said the attack has raised tension in Kpone and, therefore, called the head priest of Nungua, Numo Gbobu Wulormor, to intervene to appease the deities of the traditional area.

"It is disheartening to hear some youth say the priestesses smoke marijuana and take hard liquor to intoxicate them for incantation. We feel insulted by these utterances, and we are calling on Numo Gbobu Wulormor to come to Kpone to let peace prevail. Until then, we, the priestesses of Kpone Alata are boycotting this year's Homowo," Nii Oko said.

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