One of the mandatory tests the overlord of the Waala Kingdom has to perform to climax the Dumba festivities is jumping over a cow.

The custom is performed to test the spiritual capability of the Wa Naa to be able to rule and his physical capacity to be a ruler.

The overlord is expected to jump without any part of his body or dress touching the cow.

It is believed that should the overlord fail in this customary rite, he may not live to witness the next Dumba Festival.

This made many relatives of the overlord, Wa Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo IV, apprehensive when the Chief was about to jump. They wished that he performed the rite successfully.

Therefore, it was all joy for all and sundry when Wa Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo IV took the fourteenth jump over the cow, successfully.

Speaking to JoyNews, the MP for Wa Central, who is also a cousin to the overlord, Dr Rasheed Hassan Pelpuo said it was a moment of worry and anxiety prior to the jump, but after the jump he was elated everything happened smoothly as he hoped.

“For us who were watching as soon as it happened, I jumped up with excitement. I saw his children who were crying now begin to smile through tears, so everything went as we expected,” he told Rafiq Salam.

Dumba Festival is an annual festival celebrated by the chiefs and people of Wa of the Waala Paramountcy in the Upper West Region of Ghana.