Royalty and Splendour At Odwira

The heavy drumming ,the slow procession of the chiefs clad in the best of customary costumes and the milling crowd that filled every tiny spot of the main road gave every indication of what was happening: the culmination of a traditional festival. There was excitement in the air. Intangible but felt all the same.

The venue was the otherwise quiet town of Akropong-Akwapim. The occasion: the grand durbar of chiefs and queen mothers to round off the week-long celebration of the Odwira Festival, last Friday.

Dressed in Kente and rich cloths of all kinds, and bedecked in their gold bracelets, necklaces and rings, the Akwapim traditional leaders slowly paraded in splendour through the traditional capital of the Akwapim state to Mpeniase, the durbar grounds, to be addressed by the Okuapehene, Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa III and the Minister of Presidential Affairs and Information, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey.

The Minister stood in for President J. A. Kufuor. Other important traditional leaders also graced the occasion. They included the resident f the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, Nii Tetteh Otu, and the queen mother of Ga, Naa Omaadru.

This year's Odwira also marked the 35th anniversary of the enstoolment of the Okuapehemma, Nana Dokua 1.

Interestedly and indeed uniquely, the durbar was an interaction between the traditional state and modern national politics, with each side jostling for support from the other for its own agenda.

The current chieftancy dispute in the Akwapim State featured prominently in the speech of the Okuapehene.

Lawlessness and disregard for traditional customs and practices have caused the dispute, Okuapehene observed.

At the heart of the dispute is the demand by the Chiefs of Aburi, Adukrom and Larteh to be elevated and recognised as paramount chiefs, a situation which Nana Addo Dankwa said could be attained if the procedure for elevation is followed.

The Okuapehene who is also the President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs also outlined some programmes the traditional authority has planned for the year.

The authority will embark on vigorous HIV/AIDS, environmental issues and drug abuse campaigns. Girl-child education would also be promoted, he said.

The Okuapehene recalled the days when Akwapims were famous for their politeness, hardwork, selflessness and high degree of literacy, and urged the present generation to re-dedicate themselves to those principles and achievement.

Presidential Affairs Minister Obetsebi-Lamptey told the gathering that though the government is working towards realising the positive change promised by the NPP, it would take time.

"Ghana is a rich country that is temporarily poor. Together we can make it rich again", the Jake said. He pointed to the relative stability in the rate of the cedi and inflation as positive signs in the government's drive to put the nation's economy back on track.

Obetsebi-Lamptey announced that government has voted ?110 billion for the pest control exercise of all cocoa farms in the country, a gesture he hoped Akwapims would benefit from because of their long association with cocoa farming.

He also disclosed that ?5 billion has been set aside for the award of the Cocoa Farmers Scholarship to deserving students who are entering the secondary school this year.

Being the most important event in the traditional calendar, Odwira attracts Akwapims and non-Akwapims alike to Akropong and this year's Odwira was no exception. Every alley and conceivable space in the centre of the town was taken up. Foreign tourists strained themselves to catch glimpses and take shots of the cultural display that enfolded. The bars and restaurants blared the latest songs from huge sound speakers and sold out by the gallons, beer and other alcoholic beverages to their excited customers.

The Odwira spectacle was one of contrast: the enactment of a traditional past co-existing with modernity represented by "the youth and their willful ways", as some old folks' described it.

In their clothing, the youth also offered some contrast. While the males wore baggy jeans and oversize shirts, the females were bold in their sartorial scantiness: skimpy skirts, tight jeans and bikini-like tops. It appeared that they were less interested in the cultural and historical stuff on display than in the opportunity the festival offered them to strut about, get drunk, flirt and possibly have unprotected sex. "Chilling out", they call it.

From the reaction of the older people it was obvious that the celebration of Odwira was different in their hey days. And definitely the scene was different when the festival was first celebrated 175 years ago during the latter part of the reign of the late Okuapehene, Nana Addo Dankwa I. "Odwira" is an Akan word meaning "purification". The festival period, it is believed, is used to cleanse the traditional area and the people of the trouble and the woes of the passing year. The festival embraces such related purposes like thanksgiving, the introduction of the new yam, sacrifices to the ancestors and remembrance of the dead. The people and chiefs of Akwapim also use the occasion to pledge their allegiance to the Okuapehene.

The Akwapim State is composed of two main linguistic groups: the Guan and the Twi speakers. History has it that following the maltreatment meted out to the Guan, the aborigines of the Akwapim Mountains, by their Akwamu overlords; the Guans sought help from the Akyems.

The then Akyem king, Ofori Panin, dispatched his nephew, Ofori Kuma or Safori, to the rescue of the Guan. After the combined forces of the Akyem and Guan warriors had defeated the Akwamu, a pact was signed at Abotakyi (the Abotakyi Accord) which allowed the Akyem people to stay on at Akwapim.

A political structure was developed with Akropong as the traditional capital where the Okuapehene, the paramount chief, resides. Larteh became the head of the Benkum division; Adukrom headed the Nifa division and Aburi led the Adonten division.

The Odwira festival, until the current dispute flared up, was what attracted the other divisional chiefs to the capital to renew their allegiance to the state and the Okuapehene.