The Nkusukum Traditional Council in the Mfantseman Municipality has launched the celebration of the Odambea Festival at the Nankesedo (Saltpond Lower Town).

The week-long festival will be celebrated by 20 towns and villages comprising the Nkusukum from Sunday 19th August to 26th August 2012.

The Festival, like many other festivals in Ghana, is celebrated in the last week of August during the beginning of food harvesting to signify hooting at hunger and to commemorate the achievements of their ancestors.

History has it that, when the Barbor Mfantses were migrating from Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region to their present settlement, three tribes- Aboras, Nkusukum and Ekumfis, moved together with the Nkusukum forming the “ridge” in the middle whiles the Aboras moved on the right and the Ekumfis on the left.

The Odambea derived its name from the role of the “ridge” they (Nkusukum) played in the migration and it is likened to the long beam that joins one end of a roof to the other end to make roofing possible “Odan-Mbeae”.

The highlights of the festival are the propitiation rites by the chiefs led by the Omanhen in six communities namely, Biriwa, Akatakyiwa, Woraba, Duadze, Kuntu and Abenum.

A cow will be paraded from Peyim in Lower Town to Mankessim for the final propitiation rites and a grand durbar at Saltpond Victoria Park on Saturday followed by state dance.

The celebration will be crowned with a non-denomination church service on Sunday.

Speaking at the launch, Nana Ataapim Kweenu VIII, Nkusukum Mankrado and Chairman of the Festival Planning Committee, said the theme for the celebration of the festival, embracing peace and unity for the total development of the traditional area and the nation, was selected in view of the 2012 general election.

He appealed to the citizens to use the festival to reawaken their commitment to the development of the town which had played an important role in the nation’s political history.

Nana Ataapim Kweenu reminded Ghanaians that Saltpond was the birth place of the Convention Peoples Party and appealed to governments to give the town its due share of amenities to commensurate with its role in the struggle for independence.

Nana Kwesi Brebo III, Acting Omanhen, appealed to the citizens to turn up in their numbers to make the festival grand, especially during the durbar on 25 August 2012.**