Culture

Traditional Set-Up

The Adansi traditional set up is made up of seven divisional chiefs.  The divisions are Ayaase, Edubiase, Dompoase and Bodwesango forming the NIFA division and Akrofuom and Akrokerrifie forming the BENKUM division.  Fomena is the seat of the Paramount Chief of the Adansi Traditional area. The Adansi People have seven stools with Fomena being the seat of the paramount chief.  This serves as a unifying factor to make the people united for development.

Ethnic Diversity

The population is predominantly Akan with Adansis forming the greater majority.  However other ethnic groups are also found; notable among them are the Ewes, the Krobos and Fantes.  The minor ethnic groups are mostly settler farmers. The entire Adansi Asokwa is made up of about 80% Akans and 20% made up of varied and numerous tribes in the country, who are scattered throughout the district as settler farmers.  Ethnic conflict is therefore almost non-existent in the district.

Communal Spirit

Communal spirit in the district is very low.  This is due to the fact that only two out of the seven divisions of the Adansi stools have chiefs.  Majority of the stools are without chiefs, as a result, the people lack leadership at the grassroots to move them to assist in developmental efforts.  This has affected and continues to affect development negatively in the district.

Traditional Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices

The people in the district still maintain the traditional taboo days.  Tuesdays are observed as taboo days in most parts of the district.  Some rivers and streams also forbid farmers from crossing or working around them.  Other taboo days are Akwasidae and Awukudae which occur every forty days.

Majority of the people are Christians and a sizeable number of the people are Muslims.  Others also practice the African traditional religion.
 

Festivals

The chiefs and people of the Adansi traditional area celebrate YAM FESTIVAL as the main festival of the area.  To climax the festival, two rituals are performed namely Ntaatoso and Odwira.  It is believed that, traditionally BONSAM, a local idol, is supposed to eat yam before everybody.  The Akrokerrihene therefore performs the Ntaatoso ritual on Bonsam.  Odwira is also performed one week after the Ntaatoso by the paramount Chief. All the divisional chiefs and their subjects celebrate the YAM FESTIVAL. Yam festival is celebrated every year by the chiefs and the people of Adansi.  This attracts so many people of Adansi origin from far and near to Fomena as a result, projects are initiated and resources mobilized for development.

The significance of the festival is that, it unites the people.  During the festival, sons and daughters of Adansi traditional area use that opportunity to return to their roots to contribute to development projects initiated by the various communities.  The settler ethnic groups co-exist with the Adansis and chieftaincy disputes in some communities have never resulted into any conflict.  The people are therefore living in harmony.

Participation

The involvement of the people in local social activities is really encouraging. Attending funerals is one aspect of life that the people participate without reservation. Besides funerals, there are some other socio-cultural activities that the people involve themselves a lot. Festivals, naming and traditional wedding ceremonies just to list a few are some of the socio-cultural activities that demand the involvement of the people.

The people also participate in Assembly’s programmes and projects such as Town Hall Meetings where the Annual Action Plan and Budgets are presented for transparency and accountability, fee-fixing resolutions and   Ghana Social Accountability Mechanism (GSAM) meetings to enhance social accountability. During site meetings of a particular project, people participate to ensure value for money. Some of the stakeholders who participate during site meetings include: Chiefs, Queen-mothers, Assembly members, Unit Committee members, opinion leaders, teachers, nurses, traders, etc.

Chieftaincy Disputes

There are chieftaincy conflicts emanating from the traditional areas themselves e.g. during the installation of a new chief. In this case, it takes a very long time to fill a vacant stool. A clear example is the Akrofuom and Old Edubiase stools which have not been occupied since the demise of the former chiefs. Another area is where two paramount chiefs have disputes about their traditional boundary demarcations.  However these have not escalated into Communal Violence.

Implications of Cultural Practices for Development

The implications for development can be broadly grouped under positive and negative implications. The positive cultural practices are the closeness and harmony in the traditional set-up which are a healthy sign for traditional development. The common lineage of the Traditional Authorities has greatly reduced the chieftaincy disputes in the area as the paramount chiefs see themselves as brothers. In this case when a chieftaincy dispute arises, they team up and solve the problem amicably without resorting to arbitration from the Otumfour’s Palace.

The high level of participation of the people in local traditional activities like festivals has been used as advantage by the traditional authorities to organize annual durbar where funds are mobilized for development. The festival serves as a home-coming event for the citizens living outside their communities to contribute towards the development of their towns.

T O U R I S M

Tourism is not fully developed in the district. For this reason, though, today Tourism is the third largest foreign exchange earner in the country, Adansi Asokwa gets virtually nothing in terms of revenue from Tourism.

Despite the poor performance of the District in Tourism development, the district has some potential. For instance, there are about four (4) Tourists Attraction sites in the District which can be developed to boost tourism. They are as follows:

• The Prempeh II Stone at Brofoyedru;

• The SasabonsamKye at Bodwesango

• The Tewobaabi Waterfalls at Tewobaabi

• The Nyankumasu Waterfalls at Nyankumasu