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STATEMENT ON THE KWAHU EASTER FESTIVAL
DELIVERED BY HON. KWABENA DARFOUR; MP FOR NKAWKAW CONSTITUENCY
Mr. Speaker, Thank you for this opportunity to make a
statement on this day to herald the celebration of the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ which in Biblical terms
serves as redemption moment for mankind. This year’s Easter
festivities will commences on the 29th of March ending on the
3rd of April.
Mr. Speaker, the Kwahu Ridge has come to the fore to be
knitted to the celebration of Easter because the occasion
presents moment for indigenes of Kwahu to embark on massive
home coming; a home coming enabling citizens of Kwahu to
confer with families, think about development agenda and then
prefer means of overcoming problems. Mr. Speaker leisure and
fun have also become an integral part of the celebration.
The Kwahu Easter can be said to be, arguably the biggest
gathering of revelers in the country. It has been upped to a
festival status, and during the event, people from all walks
of life throng the Kwahu Ridge to the extent that every inch
of space is filled with revelers.
The Kwahu Easter has now assumed a major event in the annals
of Tourism opportunities on the Ghana Tourists Authority (GTA)
calendar. The festival has become bigger and better in
patronage and its importance to the nation cannot be glossed
over. Hitherto, the Kwahu Easter was seen as an occasion
solely for the people of Kwahu who from all walks of life came
back to their home town in a typical home Coming Fashion with
the view to reuniting with families and making new
acquaintances. The Festival has moved beyond just the mere
Home Coming Fashion to be one of the biggest outdoor omnibus
event in Ghana and arguably in Africa.
In 2005, the Kwahu Easter Festival received a major impetus,
with the introduction of the Paragliding sport into the frenzy
of the Easter Festival. Since its inception in 2005, the Kwahu
Easter Paragliding Festival has attracted thousands of
Ghanaians from all walks of life and foreigners alike. The
paragliding festival was launched by the then Ministry of
Tourism and Diaspora relations in collaboration with the
Tourism Development Board and the Kwahu South District
Assembly in 2005 at Kwahu Atibie. A Tourist Receptive Facility
was built and a runway for the pilots was also constructed at
the apex of the mountain. The paragliding sporting events
which is held during the Easter festivities normally two days
before Good Friday has become an integral part of the Easter
festival, which attracts people from all walks of life.
The advent of the Paragliding Festival dimension to the Ester
festival has added impetus to the whole programme and thus
assuming an International Dimension. For instance, in the 2012
Edition of the Kwahu Easter festival, a total of 21 pilots
participated in the paragliding Festival. This also attracted
hundreds of other nationals from Africa, Europe and America.
At the launch of the 2012 edition of the Festival, the then
Minister of Tourism Akua Sena Dansua reaffirmed government
agenda to promote tourism internationally and domestically,
adding that the paragliding festival at Kwahu was going to be
a significant part of the development agenda of the Nation.
According to the Minister, with the passage of the Tourism
Bill by Parliament, which is awaiting presidential assent,
Tourism development will be taken to another level. But Mr.
Speaker, one year on after this important statement, little
efforts have been done towards bringing this concern into
fruition.
MR. Speaker, The Paragliding festival enriches the local
economy since facilities such as hotels and restaurants
experience increased patronage during this time on our Tourism
calendar in the Kwahu Enclave. Mr. Speaker, I would,
therefore, encourage stakeholders in the industry to continue
to nurture the Kwahu Easter festival and other domestic
tourism programmes to attract participation from both local
and international visitors as Ghana prepares to move into a
phase of accelerated development and modernization agenda.
Mr. Speaker, The Kwahu Easter has become more pronounced than
ever and this development therefore calls for a more pragmatic
approach in Developing the Kwahu Enclave into a 21st Century
Tourism Site. Mr. Speaker, I speak with a heavy heart in
making this statement as the roads leading to this enviable
Tourists site is really in a bad shape and impedes Ghana’s
approach to developing Tourism potentials in the country. The
road is rough, not motorable, steep, and dangerous and
sometimes an anti-climax to revelers who throng the Festival
grounds. Mr. Speaker, I must say that my constituency; Nkawkaw,
serves as the gateway to the Kwahu Mountain and a starting
point of the Festival,. but many a time, the Ghana Tourist
Authority gloss over the Nkawkaw Township in the branding
strategy of the Festival; in fact the people of Nkawkaw are
Kwahu and must be included in the sharing of the tourism cake
for the people of Kwahu. Another challenge to this Festival is
ready availability of hotels to accommodate the anticipated
ever increasing patronage of the Festival. I will therefore,
encourage the private sector especially estate developers to
venture into building such facilities to comfortably
accommodate these tourists who patronize this omnibus
festival. Again the Ghana Tourism Authority and the Ministry
of Tourism must work closely in making sure this anomaly and
defect is rectified and improved upon.
Mr. Speaker there is the need for the Ministry of Tourism and
the Ghana Tourism Authority to continue to expand their hold
in searching for more tourism potential in the Kwahu enclave,
so far, the paragliding is the only event that has taken
monopoly as side attraction during this festive occasion, but
there are others too that can be harnessed to boost tourism in
the area. As I speak now, there is a natural Volta lake that
stretches to the Kwahu Adawso where the pontoon docks and
transport people to the afram plains. The lake presents a
veritable opportunity to be developed for tourist attraction
eg. Boat regatta.
Mr. Speaker, the growth of tourism in a place comes with its
attendant effect as many a time the cultural value of the
indigenes could have the propensity to be compromised. It is
against this background I call on the Ghana Tourist Authority
to liaise with the Kwahu Traditional Council, MPs and Assembly
Members within the enclave, Districts and Municipal Chief
Executives to ensure that the cultural sensibility and
heritage of the Chiefs and People of Kwahu are not allowed to
be exposed to threadbare, more in the midst of the fanfare and
enculturation. Mr. Speaker, I recall, the media were replete
with bad reportage of immoral acts characterizing the last
year Festival. These publications did not go down well with
the Chiefs and people of Kwahu as reports of these immoral
acts cast a slur on our Cultural Heritage as Ghanaians and we
would not countenance that.
Mr. Speaker, Kwahu is a disciplined community with high morals
and would be the last to either engage or encourage visitors
to do that.
We call on all to find courage and truth, and to desist from
engaging in this business to purposely taint the hard won
reputation of the good people of Kwahu.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to use this medium to officially
invite the Speaker and the entire Members of Parliament to
this year’s Kwahu Easter Festival where it promises to be more
exciting, bigger and better. I hope it will live up to its
billing as Nananom and the good people of Kwahu would once
again showcase the rich cultural heritage of Kwahu. Let’s make
the Kwahu Festival a showpiece of Ghana’s tourism
developmental agenda. I hope my other colleagues in this house
would join me in maintaining our good heritage in the wake of
influx of people from all walks of life and its attendant
effect. Let’s make good use of the Festival and harness the
growth of Tourism in the Kwahu enclave in particular and Ghana
as a whole.
CONTACT: HON. ERIC Kwakye Darfour 026-026-8017-062
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