A leading members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Kwesimintsim in the Western Region, Frank Pinto, has mobilised support for the party ahead of the 2024 general elections

The Engineer organised the 2nd edition of Ataya Festival in Kwesimintsim Sabon Zongo, as an electrifying mechanism to inspire the youth of the Zongo communities in the Kwesimintsim constituency of the Western Region.

This Ataya Festival, according to Pinto, has a lot of benefits such as improving the health condition of the community members, bringing both the aged and the youth together, as well as improving peace and cohesion amongst others.

This year’s edition was an improvement over the 1st edition as attendance outnumbered expectations.

As part of activities to promote democracy, social cohesion and youth development in the Constituency, fun games were held simultaneously during the Ataya festival.

Winners of the computer games, Ludu and Draft were awarded handsomely as they went away with some awards including cash prizes.

Speaking in an interview, Ing. Pinto disclosed to the media that the Ataya festival has come to stay especially as the youth of the various joints in the Zongo communities have come to appreciate the importance of networking and peace building through socialisation, mobilisation engineering togetherness.

He noted that the increasing demand for the festival was taking a form of ‘autonomous spending’ as described in economics, and so an equilibrium must be reached to satisfy the thirst of those who patronise the festival, especially the youth.

“The good thing about the Ataya Festival is that, it is non-partisan and non-denominational, Muslims, Christians, Traditionalists and all other religious members attend the festival,” he said.

The organising committee of the festival hinted that the Ataya Festival would be held twice every year to meet the demand of the people, while bringing tourists to the constituency.

This year’s edition was held on the street of FSM - Obiri road in Kwesimintsim Sabon Zongo.

Ataya, Khebab, Yam chips, pepper soup, soft drinks amongst others were served free of charge at the festival.

Ing. Pinto seized the occasion to campaign for the flag bearer of NDC John Dramani Mahama as well as the parliamentary candidate for Kwesimintsim constituency, Mr Philip Fiifi Buckman.

He told participants at the festival that the only hope for the Zongo communities was the NDC.

He, therefore, appealed to the electorates in the area to rally behind the parliamentary candidate and the flag bearer to win massively in the 2024 general elections.

"The victory of NDC is just lurking, all the Zongo communities must be part of the success story. We cannot fail our parliamentary candidate Lawyer Phillip Fiifi Buckman and our flag bearer John Dramani Mahama. They must win, so that the Kwesimintsim Constituency will have an opportunity to demand development projects, programs and sound social policies for the ultimate benefit of our people", he concluded.