The month-long ban on drumming and noise making in Ga Mashie and areas under its jurisdiction was yesterday lifted with the traditional beating of the Odadao twin-drums at the forecourt of the Gbese Mantse Palace.
The event which heralds and ushers in the annual Homowo festival, by people of Ga Mashie saw many of the indigenes, coupled with tourists flocking to the forecourt to witness the beating of the drums by Nii Ayi-Bonte II, the Gbese Mantse.
The lifting of the ban thus meant that people living in towns and villages under Gbese, Otublohum, Sempe, Akamajen, Asere, Abola and Ngleshie Alata could now use musical instruments and loud clapping in their everyday activities.
Giving a short statement after lifting the ban, Nii Gbese used the platform to wish God’s guidance and success to candidates writing the ongoing Basic Education Certificate Examinations (B.EC.E).
He said his good felicitations for the candidates stemmed from the fact that, education held the key to national development agendas, adding that, it was against such a background that no child of school going age must be left out in this era of free education.
“Now that secondary school education is free, we have no excuse to be left out of this policy being implemented by government,” he said.
Nii Ayi Bonte commended both the Christians and Muslim religious leaders for upholding the tenets of traditional norms and practices during the ban.
“I, therefore, wish to thank Muslim communities and Christian congregations for their able leadership and conduct in supporting the Ga Traditional Council to uphold the age long tradition,” he said.
He congratulated Sheik Dr Nuru Osumanu Sharabutu, for attaining 100 years this year and also for his good leadership role, saying, “We pray to Allah to add more years to his reign in the glorious years ahead.”
Nii Ayi Bonte said the agenda to make Accra one of the cleanest cities in Africa must be a collective effort and responsibility of citizens living within the city and its environs.
“The sight of people dumping waste indiscriminately into our drains must be condemned by all well-meaning citizens,” he said.
He said offenders must not be spared from having to face the full rigors of the law since it was through their notorious activities that the city was flooded anytime it rains.
Nii Ayi-Bonte said the Ga Traditional Council would lend its support to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and other assemblies within its jurisdiction to achieve the objective of making Accra a clean city.
BY: LAWRENCE MARKWEI
