The Azonto Girls, Swagger Boys, And Thieves Of Kwahu Easter

There is no doubt that one event that has gained national prominence as well as international recognition is the Kwahu Easter. People from all walks of life, and every nook and cranny; make their way to the OdwenAnoma Mountains and its environs, in the Eastern Region, to be part of the annual celebration which is used by Christians to commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The media have succeeded in creating the kind of euphoria that would leave every reveller yearning to be on the KwahuooooKwahu train. It is, therefore, not surprising to find persons who have neither relatives nor friends in that part of the country making their way to have a feel of the event. Yet, there are others, like myself, who hail from the area and would therefore avail themselves of the occasion to visit relatives and other acquaintances. Be that as it may, people have different needs and interests they wish to satisfy, and they are of firm disposition that those needs and interests would be met once they make their way there.

So this year’s event being no exception, many of us buckled up and headed for the Kwahu Mountains to have fun, as it were. I must say, the traffic situation, though heavy, was manageable compared to previous years’. Indeed, the police did a yeoman’s job by not only manning the various traffic joints in the area, but also increasing their visibility to ward off traffic offenders and other miscreants from doing anything untoward.

In terms of attendance, I think the number of patrons at this year’s event fell below expectation and the reasons may not be far-fetched. While many were trying to find their way around the current economic woes in the midst of the ‘dumsor’, others too made their way to Kumasi and nearby towns which were equally buzzing with a flurry of activities.

The seemingly poor attendance notwithstanding, the beautiful daughters of Eve and the handsome sons of Adam were there in their ‘bulk majority’. Indeed, one would not be far from the truth to christen this year’s event as the ‘Easter for the youth,’ as most patrons were between 12 and 35 years.

As has often been the case, most of the ladies, whom I choose to call the Azonto girls, wore tight and very revealing mini-skirts or jeans, boldly displaying their vital statistics. They were literally littered around every corner of the street and at various vantage points dancing to the very popular ‘yenntieobiaa’ hit track by Daddy Lumba.

Of course, their male counterparts, the swagger boys, were also not left out of the fun, as most of them were spotted at the various street joints drinking and dancing to Shatta Wale’s ‘megyewo girl’ track, which is currently topping the charts. Surprisingly, most of the guys were seen in their sun glasses even in the depths of the night, perhaps, preventing their eyes from preying on the Azonto girls.

However, a group of people whose activities nearly marred the beauty of the Easter, and so I’ve decided to describe them as thieves, was the drivers and their bookmen. They took advantage of the many passengers who had massed at the main Nkawkaw Lorry Station on Easter Monday, wishing to make their way back to Accra after the celebration, to rob revellers of the little money they had on them.

Not only did these drivers and their bookmen increase the fare from GHc14.00 to GHc20.00, they also acted as middlemen preventing passengers in long and winding queues from buying tickets to board the busses.They hoarded and sold the tickets to their friends and cronies for a generous tip. Some of the law-abiding passengers, who were obviously not happy at the situation, cursed and cast aspersions on them, resulting in intermittent brawls.

In all, this year’s Easter, to a large extent, was incident-free, and didn’t have any major controversies rocking it as witnessed some time ago. Hope to catch you on the trip next year, God willing.

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Blog: aasirrichard.wordpress.com
(The writer is a public relations and communications professional)