Culture

Traditional setup

The Daffiama-Bussie-Issa District has three (3) Traditional Councils: the Daffiama Traditional Area, Bussie Traditional Area and the Issa Traditional Area, which all have paramount chiefs.

Festivals

The major festivals celebrated in the District are the Jimbenti and Dunyee which are celebrated across the District. These festivals have been essentially dormant for some time now and hence their revival is very essential since they create forum for deliberations on key issues and finding solutions to problems affecting community development. With the Assembly’s understanding of festivals as a tool for community development, the Assembly should make efforts to liaise with all relevant stakeholders in the traditional set up to ensure the revival of these two festivals.

Ethnicity and Religion

The District has 2 major tribes, the Dagaaba and the Sissalas. The District is highly homogeneous with Dagaabas constituting about 96% of the total population and the Sissalas represent 4%. The Sissalas are confined only to the south-eastern parts of the District.

There are also three religious groups in the District including Christians (51%), Moslems (36.8%) and Traditional believers (8.3%) and others (3.7%).The Catholics dominate the Christians population.

In spite of this heterogeneous religious composition, there is religious tolerance and peaceful co-existence among the people in the District. This is a major pre-requisite for development not only in the District but also in other parts of the Region. The table below shows the religious composition of the district’s population:

Tourism

Tourism has been discovered to be one of the main driving forces of economic growth in least developed economies.  Even though the district has a strong tourism potential, this is yet to be developed to contribute meaningfully to the district’s economy. The following are some of the sites that have been identified and investigated to be viable in the district:

• Wogu sacred groove.

• Pizaga rock Caves

• Mysterious hole in a rock at Bussie

• Buhil at Challa

• Gabile at Jimpensi

• A spring at Kojokperi

The development of the aforementioned tourist sites have been constrained by poor roads and the inadequacy of recreational and accommodation facilities in the District.  However, some of these roads are opened up under the Ghana Social Opportunities Project, making the sites accessible. There is also the need to provide the recreational and accommodation facilities.