The 2025 Aboakyer Festival of the Chiefs and People of Effutu has been launched with a call on all service providers to ensure excellent delivery to boost the local economy.

Neenyi Ghartey VII, Effutu Oma Odefe and President of Effutu Traditional Council, who launched the festival, stated that the celebration of the festival was a moral and spiritual obligation to their ancestors, deities and the land.

“We propitiate them to bring wellbeing to our people."

The festival on the theme: "Championing our ancestral legacy,” will start on Saturday, April 26 and climax on Saturday, May 4, 2025, with a grand durbar, where Neenyi Ghartey will sit in state to be paid homage.

It will start with a Gospel musical show and clean-up exercise at various communities and homes. Other activities are a health walk, regatta, tug-of-war, marathon race and bicycle racing.

The rest are football tournaments, cooking competitions and parading of gods by the two Asafo Companies.

On Friday, May 3, the traditional military would march through the principal streets of the Winneba Township to provide security and ensure peace as the Asafo Companies enter their ancestral forests on the dawn of Saturday, May 4, to catch a live bushbuck.

The group with the first catch will then present it to Neenyi Ghartey to step on it three times to signify acceptance by their god, Penkye Otu.

Neenyi Ghartey underscored the need for his people to be united more than ever and entreated them to do away with their differences and work to enjoy the peace they had built over the years and the solidarity that came with it.

"This festival showcases the rich Asafo, religious and cultural tradition of Effutu State and other entertainment components enhancing tourist attractions to the area."

Neenyi Ghartey, who is also the Chancellor of the University of Education, said, "Through our efforts to sustain our ancestral heritage, we are championing a course to ensure that Effutu tradition and culture are preserved for current and future generations."

He further stated that the traditional council had called on all households to put their houses in order while the community embarked on a massive clean-up exercise for an enjoyable experience devoid of being victims of communicable diseases during the celebration.

He implored the people to stop spreading falsehood against the traditional council and the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Area, Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin.

He stated that the level of vilification of the MP, based on falsehood and reckless allegations, was malicious, and the traditional council outrightly condemned it.

"Effutu must be allowed to enjoy its peace," he added.

Later, members of the 2025 Aboakyer planning committee, chaired by Nana Owusu Ofori, were introduced to the gathering.