This year’s Cape Coast Fetu Afahye or Fetu Festival week comes to a grand finale on Saturday, September 7, with a splendid, historic durbar at which Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II will be the Special Guest of Honour. So if you haven’t heard the main, terrific Fetu Afahye radio commercial, I suggest you try to catch it before the festival ends on September 8.

Cape Coast, also known as ‘Oguaa’, has a population of some 189,925, according to the 2021 census. The annual festival climaxes on the first Saturday of September, after a series of week-long events. This year’s theme is ‘Celebrating the City of Firsts; Our People, Our Future’.

Usually, when you hear the expression “dearly beloved” you tend to think a sermon will follow, but that is the very innovative introduction of the commercial that has been airing on Radio Ghana in recent days, promoting the festival. Fetu Afahye, is a celebration of the Fante people, but centered on the Cape Coast/Oguaa Traditional Area.

(A reference source explains that: “The word fetu is a contraction of 'efin tu' in the local dialect which means clearing the dirt. Oguaa Fetu Afahye festival is, therefore, a commemoration of that purification which saved the land from a plague, and a show of gratitude to the 77 gods of the Oguaa Traditional Area.”)

Read also: Cape Coast lights up with Orange Friday as Fetu Afahye reaches 60th year

Fetu Afahye climaxed with royal splendour

I find the commercial so entertaining that every time I hear it, it puts me in good humor. Commendably, its creator has effectively utilized the proverbial Fante reputation for good-natured ‘abrofosem’, meaning exhibiting European ways, and, or, mixing highfalutin English with the Fante language, to produce an amusing, compelling radio advertisement.

The following is my ‘freestyle’ transcript of the commercial, whose background music is, appropriately, A.B Crentsil’s toe-tapping evergreen highlife hit ‘Ye Wo Adze a Oye (Osokoo)’ – which loosely translates as ‘We have something good’.

It begins with an attention-grabbing throat-clearing by the gifted narrator to hook you, then continues with “Dearly beloved”, before switching to what I term ‘Fantenglish’:

“Wɔn stand by for the following bombshell!

“Oguamanhen Osabarimba Kwesi Atta the Second, Oguaamanhemaa Nana Ekua Abookyi the Sixth and the Oguaa Traditional Council, wɔde delight and pride wɔreinvite amanfoɔ nyinaa ara to the sixtieth Oguaa Fetu Afahye Festival.

“Nyame nkyɛ adze, dɛm landmark celebration yi akɔ coincide with the twenty-fifth-anniversary celebration of Ɔsabarimba ne coronation! Enti w’aakɔyɛ double celebration!

“Na nkyɛ w’ara wo yɛ aware dɛ Fetu Afahye de ɔyɛ not just the biggest festival in Ghana, oh; ɔsanso yɛ the second biggest carnival in the world!

“Ɔno nti na the whole world re-descend upon Cape Coast for an action packed, exciting, enigye-centric, eight days celebration. From the first aaaa kɔpem the eighth of September, 2024.

“Medɔfo, ma me ngist wo highlights: Theme no yɛ ‘Celebrating the City of Firsts; Our People, Our Future’.

“Special Guest of Honour yɛ Otumfuo Osei Tutu, the Second. Invited guests nso deɛ bebree: Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia; former President John Dramani Mahama, Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin ….

“Na events no deɛ, mennstart wɔhefa? Homecoming Carnival! Night! Akom Night! Bakatue Regatta! Youth Fair! Food Coloquiom! Orange Friday! Ghana Music Festival!

“Ansa a na traditional durbar n’ankasa a yɛbɛsoa ahenfo wɔ wim, na y’a celebrate yɛn seven spectacular Asafo Companies through the streets of Oguaa.

“Information no nyinaa yɛ available online. Nti kɔ na kɔwhewhe Oguaa Fetu Afahye wɔ social media, na follow yɛn for info and updates, aye!

“Me nua, dɛm menu of merrymaking, dɛm buffet of bashment yi, dɛm cornucopia of cultural conviviality deɛ, me ennallow na ɔnnhappen without you, w’ate!

“Ma yɛnhyia wɔ Cape Coast, the city of firsts, for the sixtieth Oguaa Fetu Afahy, aye?

“Na this year deɛ, ‘hashtag Afahye’ go be!” That is how the commercial ends.

I imagine that one benefit of the amusing‘Fantenglish’ is that even non-Fante/Akan speakers can understand the central message just by following the English bits. 

In the Daily Graphic of Saturday, August 31, 2024, DOUGLAS ANANE-FRIMPONG helpfully lists the main reasons for the city’s appellation as ‘the city of firsts’:

“Cape Coast, the capital of the Central Region, is a historic city with a rich cultural heritage. The city played a significant role in Ghana’s history, serving as the capital of the Gold Coast Colony for over 30 years and a major hub for trade, culture and education.

“In 1844, Cape Coast became the capital of the British Gold Coast Colony until 1877 when the capital was moved to Accra.

“Aside from being the first capital, the city is also credited to be the first to have a school in Ghana (emphasis added). This school, established by the British in 1658, was primarily for the children of European traders and officials. The Philip Quaque School, established in 1765, was the first for Ghanaians.

“Prior to the establishment of the school, the first Christian church, the Cape Coast Dutch Reformed Church, also known as the Dutch Reformed Church, had been built in Cape Coast in 1651.

“The city further boasts of having the first secondary school in Ghana, Mfantsipim School, which was established in 1876. The St. Francis Cathedral, dedicated in 1928, was the first Catholic Cathedral built in Ghana.

“The city’s rich history and pioneering spirit have earned it the nickname ‘The city of firsts’, the writer explains.

Interestingly, the chairperson of the Fetu 2024 planning committee is former Electoral Commissioner Charlotte Osei. A Ghana News Agency report of May 15, 2024, announcing the constitution of an eight-member committee for Fetu 2024, said that Mrs Osei traces her roots “from Essuekyir-Ahenfie, near Abura”. She added: “I’m an indigene of Cape Coast by blood and it’s an honour to serve my people.”

As part of Fetu 2024, at a special congregation on September 5, Otumfuo Osei Tutu received an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree, conferred by the University of Cape Coast, for his outstanding contribution to unity and development in the country.

If unfortunately for you, you can’t be in Cape Coast this weekend to join in the “anigye-centric bashment and conviviality”, I suggest that you at least get a feel of Fetu Afahye 2024 by catching some of its spirit through the radio commercial.

And I pray that Radio Ghana and other stations have been commissioned to air it until the last day!

Again, I highly recommend this memorable Fantenglish commercial as a great tonic! Certainly, to me it qualifies as an original, creative and humorous “bombshell”!  

Ajoa Yeboah-Afari

BBC correspondent (‘Focus on Africa’ programme, 1984 – 1996); President, Ghana Journalists Association (October, 2003 – May, 2006); first Public Affairs Officer, Commonwealth Secretariat, London, (January, 1997 – September, 2002); Editor, Ghanaian Times (January, 2004 – November, 2008); and former ‘Thoughts of a Native Daughter’ columnist of The Mirror.