NDC Hijacks Aboakyer

Neenyi Ghartey VII, Omanhene of Winneba in the Central Region, has told DAILY GUIDE that the National Democratic Congress-led government has banned him, together with his family, from partaking in the traditional Aboakyer festival of which he is the chief celebrant.

He said leading personalities in government had taken direct charge of the Aboakyer festival and were bent on organizing the otherwise traditional ceremony just to fulfill a political campaign promise.

“It is a lesson not to me alone but to the whole institution of chieftaincy that we must free ourselves from government control. I wonder why the government would order that the festival should go on when we the Traditional Council and elders have agreed on something else.

It is even stranger that I, the incumbent Omamhene and chief celebrant of Aboakyer, have been ordered not to set foot on the festival grounds because my presence there could create security problems.

“But I am not surprised because this is a campaign promise Mike Hammah and the NDC made that if the candidate won, the party would work against me to get me out or make my authority irrelevant and that is exactly what they are doing,” Nene Ghartey said on Wednesday.

The Omanhene alleged further that the Central Regional Minister, Ama Benyiwa Doe, had used her position as Chairman of the Central Regional Security Council to get the police to work against him.

Indeed, Madam Benyiwa Doe had been reported to have said that all was set for the celebration of the Aboakyer this weekend.

“When I talk, they say I am doing politics but the truth is that the NDC has taken over our celebration of our traditional festival and deciding who should attend and who should not.

Then they sent a chief who is also a member of the Council of State to talk to me to accept what I know is wrong and nothing but an unfair intrusion of politicians into chieftaincy affairs.

So I asked the chief if he would be happy if that was done in his traditional area; whether he would laugh if politicians banned him from attending a traditional festival in his hometown,” Nana Ghartey complained.

DAILY GUIDE’s checks revealed that some persons close to the National Security apparatus who hail from Winneba have, for close to two years, shown open bias in handling chieftaincy challenges in the area.

The situation is not different from what happened at Bawku when one faction in a chieftaincy feud was given government protection to celebrate a festival, much to the chagrin of the other faction which was banned when it was its turn.

Meanwhile, the Effutu Traditional Council has issued a press statement announcing the cancellation of this year’s Aboakyer.

According to the statement, “Neenyi Ghartey VII, Oma Odofo and President of the Effutu Traditional Council have in consultation with the chiefs and elders decided to cancel this year’s Aboakyer festival.”