By Laudia Sawer
Tema, July 31, GNA – The Tema Canoe Owners Association said the traditional priests and priestesses of Tema Manhean have informed them to perform purification rights at the sea.
This follows the death of two fishermen who died at sea when they, together with 10 colleagues, had their canoe capsized on Thursday when they went on a Homowo festival customs fishing expedition.
The circumstances leading to their death have been conflicting, as the fishermen claimed a Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) patrol boat was used to hit their canoe, capsizing them instantly and subsequent death, an assertion GPHA management had denied.
Nii Adjeiteh Kwei, the Chairman of the Tema Canoe Owners Association, said this when the Tema Metropolitan Security Council (MESEC) met the leadership of the canoe beach on Thursday to commiserate with them and announce measures put in place to investigate the circumstances leading to the incident.
Nii Kwei, who is also the National Vice President of the Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners Association of Ghana (CaFGOAG), said since the people of Tema were in their Homowo festive period, it was a taboo for any death to occur in the town; therefore, the incident had spiritually dented the town and the celebrations, therefore the need for purification.
“Homowo is our festival, and therefore we have the right to celebrate it. They have dirtied the sea and town with what they have done, so there is a need for purification, and doing so required a lot of things,” he said.
He said they did not understand why such an incident must occur, especially when they had already informed the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture about the fishing expedition ritual during the closed season.
He said the people Tema were performing that ritual called “ꬼshↄbulemↄ’ every Homowo annually as inherited from their ancestors before the introduction of the closed season, therefore harassing them to the extent of some of the fishermen dying was unacceptable.
Nii Odametey II and Nii Mattor, the chief fishermen for Awudum and Ashamang, respectively, expressed worry at the incident, saying it was unfortunate that after the GPHA had taken over all their coast, leaving them with limited places to fish, they were also not respecting their culture.
They called for a thorough investigation into the issue, and the perpetrators were duly punished to curtail such an occurrence again, adding that as law-abiding citizens, they strictly obeyed the closed season directive, noting however that the festival expedition was not negotiable, a stand they informed the Ministry of ahead of time.
GNA