Mo Traditional Council sets records straight on Festival and more

The Mo Traditional Council under the auspices of the Paramount Chief Nana Kwaku Dankwa III, has set the records straight on some factual inaccuracies about the infamous Benkadi Kurubi Festival and the Mo people.

In a statement issued and signed by Edward Oppong Boateng, Registrar of the Mo Traditional Area, he indicated that it was in furtherance to the invitation of the Defence and National Security Ministers to parliament over the recent clashes in Kintampo.

In correcting factual inaccuracies in the statements read on the floor of parliament on Thursday, November 23, 2023, the Traditional Council gave a detailed background of the Chiefs and People of the Mo Traditional Area, using the opportunity to give the history of their festival.

Read the full release below.

Benkadi Kurubi festival was instituted by Nana Fanyinama III after the demise of the late Omanhene of Mo Traditional Area Nana Kwaku Dimpo.

Nana Fanyinama III is never the President and Paramount Chief of the Wangara Community in Ghana, as alluded to by the Rt. Hon Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, Alban Sumani Kingsford Bagbin, in Parliament yesterday. There are available records to erase that fallacy, which is tantamount to the deceit of a public officer.

Again, Nana Fanyinama III is not the Chief of Kintampo as he usually describes himself at public functions. He can best be described as the Zongo Chief in Kintampo.

The Mos are scattered around the world and are mostly in the Bono East and Savannah Regions, thus, North Mo. It is only a fraction of them reside in Cote d’Ivoire just like those domiciling in Germany, Italy, the UK and the US etc.

The declaration by the President and Paramount Chief of the Mo Traditional Council Nana Kwaku Dankwa III is an annual festival just that the stool was lying vacant for 23 years due to litigations and counter litigations. It is now that a new Omanhene has been duly and successfully gazetted which paved the way for the continuation of the festival.

Nana Fanyinama III has been paying homage to the Omanhene of Mo by notifying him annually of his intentions to celebrate the Benkadi Kurubi festival with sheep, yams and other necessary traditional necessities, but this particular year, he deliberately refused to do that because he has initiated court processes to claim ownership of Mo Lands.

Nana Fanyinama III’s decision to legally claim ownership of Mo Land is based on his argument that, somewhere in 1927, the Omanhene Nnaa Yaw Dagbi tasked him to administer 5 miles radius (on his behalf) standing by the old post office near the Kintampo Municipal Hospital, therefore he has the legal right to lay claims to the land.

Other traditional areas, such as Ga, Sunyani etc., just to mention a few, impose a ban on noise-making, which the Law Courts, Banks among others accept in good faith and declare holidays within the stipulated time frame in the said traditional areas. Why then are the Mos treated differently? Is it because he is highly connected to an unseen hand in government?

Nana Fanyinama III serves two (2) paramouncies, thus, Mo and Nkoranza, but he accords the Nkoranza Manhene with maximum respect and does the opposite to the Mo Manhene. Meanwhile, the Wangaras or Zongo Community generally reside on Mo Lands in Kintampo.

The Mo Manhene has absolute confidence in both the REGSEC and MUSEC to use dialogue in resolving this lingering impasse amicably.