Traditional Festivals

A festival is a periodic gathering of a community to remember a historical event or the ancestors and give thanks to God and the gods for their help and protection over the past year. Most festivals are celebrated with a specific or particular intention and objective. They are also used by the Traditional leaders to mobilize people for development.

The Chiefs and people of Jinijini Traditional Area celebrate two main festivals. They are Kwafie and Munufie. During such festivals, sheep, fowls and drinks are used by the chiefs to pour libation to invoke the spirits of their Ancestors to bring good tidings to the people.   Peace, good health and prosperity are what most chiefs ask for their people.

Shrines

There are some areas designated as shrines. The Asuokoraa shrine at Jamdede.  The shrine receives lot of people during special occasions for spiritual assistance and guidance. Some areas are set aside as sacred places. The Koraso cave and Nkyenkyemam Rocks.

Cultural Potentials

The Berekum West District has a lot of cultural values, but sadly, they have not been tapped to attract tourists into the area. For instance, most of the festivals have become defunct with none of them being celebrated these days. It is high time such festivals got revived to enable the people exploit it to attract investors into the tourism industry in the District since both culture and tourism go hand in hand. Again, handicrafts such as pottery, sculptured pieces, beads, basketry and other cane products which have both cultural and tourism values abound in the area.

Key Development Problems

Inadequate data on tourism attractions

Inadequate data on tourist arrivals

Poor access to tourism sites.

Traditional Set-Up

Jinijini Traditional Area lies between the Berekum, Seikwa, Japekrom and Dormaa Traditional Areas. Jinijini is the administrative center of the Traditional Area as well as the political capital. Jinijini Traditional Area consists of Bonos, Asantes, Ewes, Gas, Fantes and tribes from Northern part of Ghana.  These ethnic groups have inter-married and constitute a dominant population.

The Paramount Chief is the head of the Chieftaincy hierarchy. He is ably assisted by the Queenmother, Divisional Chiefs and Okyeame (the Linguist). Each Divisional Chief has a role to play in the Traditional Set-up.  Some of the Divisional Chiefs are the Krontihene, Gyaasehene, Akwamuhene, Nifahene, and Twafohene to mention a few. Under the Divisional Chiefs are the Odikros who head the smaller towns and villages.

Ethnic Diversity

The District can be said to be homogeneous in character in terms of ethnic composition. The Akan ethnic group constitutes 88.4% of the population in the District. The District can be said to be largely homogenous as the people in it are mainly Bonos with pockets of other tribes being Northern extraction. There are also others as Ewes and Ga-Adangbes. The ethnic composition is dominated by Bonos (84.4%) with other tribes from the Northern Ghana making up 4.6%. Ewes, Ga-Adangbes and other tribes making up the remaining 11%.

All the ethnic groups live in harmony. There is harmonious coexistence among the various tribal groups. This is an example of peaceful socio-cultural environment which is a recipe for growth, progress and development of the District and the nation at large.

The absence of sharp and highly divided ethnic groupings has the tendency for promoting political stability as the occurrence of inter-tribal conflicts is likely to be minimal. This is because with the exception of the Bonos, all the other tribal groupings are comparatively smaller. The ethnic composition also has implications for good consensus building on issues affecting the development of the District. However, the tendency of majority grouping overshadowing the views of the minority is also possible. Hence special efforts are required to get the participation of the minority groups in the planning and decision making process of the Assembly.

The absence of sharp and highly divided ethnic groupings has the tendency for promoting political stability as the occurrence of inter-tribal conflicts is likely to be minimal. This is because with the exception of the Bonos, all the other tribal groupings are comparatively smaller. The ethnic composition also has implications for good consensus building on issues affecting the development of the District. However, the tendency of majority grouping overshadowing the views of the minority is also possible. Hence special efforts are required to get the participation of the minority groups in the planning and decision making process of the Assembly.

Communal Spirit

Communities where Chiefs and Unit Committee Members have been proactive and institute local penalties to communal labor absentees, there is improved voluntarism among the youth who actively participates in communal labor towards the development of their communities. In the Berekum West District, there is high communal spirit as members are involved in communal labor and also concerned about the development of their respective communities.

Attitudes and Practices

As a common practice, the people in the District are very hard working and have worked tirelessly to enhance the economic status of the District. However, the proximity of the District to Berekum and Sunyani encourages the youth to transact personal businesses in the area. This has rendered farm work virtually left in the hands of the aged thereby affecting productivity levels.

Participation

The people in the District actively participate in all cultural activities in all their endeavors’ namely the pouring of libation, child naming ceremonies, marriage rites, durbars, funeral rites and other festival activities.

Religious Composition

There are basically three (3) major religions in the District: Christianity, Islam and Traditional religions. Christianity is the dominant religion, which constitutes 86.6% of the population. The other two religions; Islam and Traditional have 5.3% and 0.4% respectively. There are, however, 6.4% of the population who do not profess any religion. There is religious tolerance and acceptance as all the religious groups live in peace and harmony. This is a good recipe for social cohesion and stability.

The policy implication is that the religious bodies will facilitate easy dissemination of information and social mobilization of people such as HIV/AIDS campaign, drug abuse etc.