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Some residents of Cape Coast in the Central Region are angry with the chiefs of the Oguaa Traditional Council for lifting the ban on noise-making to allow the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) hold its campaign launch there this weekend.

The ban, which is part of preparations for the Fetu Afayhe festival was lifted yesterday [Thursday] after the chiefs said they had consulted all seventy-seven gods of the land for permission.

The Progressive People’s Party and a local radio station, Cape FM were banned from holding separate outdoor events during that period but the NDC got the green light.

A statement signed by the chairman of the 2016 Afayhe Planning Committee, Nana Kow Amoasi III said after pacifying the gods, the NDC have been cleared to go ahead with their campaign launch.

But the decision has sparked outrage among many of the residents in Cape Coast.

A resident in the area who expressed his disappointment about the development said: “It’s so sad and very disappointing. It is very clear that they have taken that stance because of NDC which is uncalled for. It has made a joke of our festival. If they need the drum for political parties then there should not be any ban on drum. The authorities have disappointed the entire Cape Coast people.”

Another resident said: “It seems that modern day dieties in Cape coast have also grown into the modern world . I don’t know whether they listen to hip pop what it is but for the fact that they will also understand and agree that the traditional 21 days that they use to ban noise and drumming all of a sudden, for some reason or the other for whatever monies that pass through wherever it passed, for that matter the gods have agreed that take one week of ours and make noise because you have given us token or something. This does not make sense anywhere.”

One other resident believes the traditional leaders are setting a bad precedent by their decision.

“This is a very bad precedent that they have set because we know tradition is tradition and if we bring politics into our traditional system them we are not achieving anything.”

NDC to launch campaign

Director of Communications for the NDC’s 2016 Campaign, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, said earlier that it was in the interest of the party to organize the event in the Central Region.

“There is some nostalgia, there is some love for the Central Region, there is a good reason why we believe that this time, it is in our interest to launch in the Central Region and that is exactly what we intend to do,” she said on Eyewitness News on Monday.

According to her, the launch of the campaign in the region, where John Evans Attah Mills hailed from, would be a fitting tribute to the late President, 4 years after his passing.

She denied however that his influence in the region prior to his demise was being exploited by the party for political gain.”

“You know really well that there is really no such exploitation. Don’t forget that we will be doing several activities in several other parts of the country. We are a social democratic party, we like to do things from any part of Ghana and we are not even barred from holding any such activity in any part of this country. So I don’t think that there is anything to do in terms of exploitation. We just believe that this time round, strategically, for us the plan is to officially launch in the Central Region and several other activities will be taking place as we go along,” she said.