The Oguaa Traditional Council has officially launched the 2022 Oguaa Fetu Afahye.

The festival resumes after a two-year break due to the COVID-19 restrictions. This year’s celebration, dubbed, “Making Cape Coast great again: A key to education, tourism, and development,” was launched at a ceremony in Cape Coast.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Paramount Chief of the Oguaa Traditional Area, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, stated that the celebration is back with the aim of reinstating the lost name of Cape Coast. 

Osabarima Kwesi Atta II further urged all natives of Cape Coast to help make this year’s celebration a success. “The festival is the period of socializing and acknowledging ourselves as people of Oguaa. It is a period to recognise that we live with spirits in Oguaa. It is a period to remember past leaders who have died and those who have contributed to making Oguaa what it is today. This festival is intended to uplift Oguaa again,” he stated.

He further admonished the youth to bury their differences and shun violent acts that have the proclivity to ruin the festival.

The Paramount Chief also touched on the impact of COVID-19 that led to the suspension of the celebrations for the past two years and how important it is for the people of Cape Coast to come together to make this year’s celebration a memorable one.

“People have said COVID-19 took over the festival, but I disagree. It didn’t take over. We have gone back on our own and whether this year’s festival is enjoyable or not is dependent on us all. ”

The Chairman of the Oguaa Fetu Afahye Planning Committee, Perry Mensah, promised the people that the festival would be extraordinary and shed more light on the theme for this year’s celebration.

He added, “The theme is straightforward. Cape Coast is the citadel of education and we have an advantage in education. Thus, if we use education, we can go through our tourism development and then get development for the people themselves. That is the reason Nananom chose this theme. ”

Mr. Mensah called on the people of Oguaa to take advantage of the festivities to promote their businesses and boost their revenue.

First of all, we have to use education. That’s the advantage that we have. So, if we use education, we can go through our tourism development and the development of the people”.

Mr. Perry Mensah further explained that there have been some additions to the usual programme line-up of the Oguaa Fetu Afahye celebration. He stated that they have a week of programming before the festival celebrations and another week after the Afahye for a different programme. He gave an overview of the two-week programme line-up for this year’s celebration.

The two-week long festival commences in the last week of August and ends in the first week of September.

Activities scheduled for the festival include; vigils, regatta, colloquium for the youth, children, and women’s day, where a variety of Fante dishes will be showcased and then climaxed with a grand durbar on the first Saturday of September.