Ghc200k Kundum Festival Expenditure: Paramount Chief of Lower Axim disowns Catherine Afeku

The Paramount Chief of the Lower Axim Traditional Council and President of the Axim Traditional Council, Awulea Attibrukusu III has finally spoken on the Afeku Kundum cash donation saga by disowning and denying knowledge of receiving or bearing witness to the GHc 200,000 Kundum expenses as stated by former Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister, Madam Catherine Afeku, in the 2018 Axim Kundum festival.

According to the Omanhene, he is not aware of the said amount quoted by the Auditor General’s report which stated that the monies were expended on a Kundum festival from 1^st to 9^th September, 2018, where the former Minister and former Member of Parliament for the Evalue Ajomoro Gwira Constituency on an Accra based Citi FM disclosed that the Paramount Chief and President of the Axim Traditional Council was aware of the money expended on musicians.

He urged the public to refrain from aligning his throne with the scandals that are being tagged on the Kundum festival celebration.

Madam Afeku during the interview mentioned Nsein, Nkroful and Axim as beneficiaries of the 200k Kundum cash, whiles both the Paramount chief of Nsein, Awulea Agyefi Kwame II, and Divisional chief of Nkroful Nana Kwasi Kutuah have come out to disassociate from being witnesses o or receiving any cash donation from her.

The release from the president of the Axim traditional council is expected to bring finality to the numerous rants by Madam Afeku against the chairman of the planning committee.

Below is the full official statement issued by the Paramount Chief of Lower Axim Awulea Attibrukusu III.

LOWER AXIM TRADITIONAL COUNCIL

Dated 30 August, 2021

For Immediate Release

To all Editor and the General Public

AWULAE ATTIBRUKUSU III HAS NO KNOWLEDGE OF ANY EXPENDITURE OF 200K ON MUSIC ARTISTES DURING THE 2018 AXIM KUNDUM FESTIVAL

1. The attention of the office of the Paramount Chief of the Lower Axim Traditional Area, Awulae Attibrukusu III, has been drawn to a radio interview granted by the former Minister Tourism and Creative Arts and Honourable Member of Parliament for Evalue Gwira Constituency, Mrs. Catherine Afeku on Friday, 20th August 2021 on the Accra based citi fm’s Eye Witness News, in which interview she (Mrs. Catherine Afeku) sought to make him (Awulae Attibrukusu III) a witness to the GHs 200,000 expenses purportedly made on Music Artistes for the 2018 Kundum Festival from 1 to 9 September as cited in the Auditor General’s report for the period ended 31 December 2020.
2. The office of His Royal Highness, Awulae Attibrukusu III and for that matter the traditional council which he chairs as the President would like to categorically state that he had no knowledge of the said amount or how it was expended before, during or after the Kundum Festival celebrations of 2018. This office and the council, which he presides over, consequently takes a strong exception to any attempt by any person(s) to associate his person, name or office with the expenditure in question especially as it has caused an upswell of public outcry in both traditional and social media thus has the potential of sullying the sanctity of the stool he occupies and the reputation he carries as a person.
3. During the Interview, the former Honourable Member of Parliament for Evalue Ajomoro Gwira Constituency posited that I bear witness to the fact that the money in question (GHs 200,000) was used to pay music artistes who performed during the Kundum carnival. Whereas this office does not deny that a number of music artistes came to perform during the Kundum carnival at the behest of the former minister and Member of Parliament, for the sake of emphasis and the abundance of clarity, this office states without equivocation that His Royal Highness has no knowledge of how much they were paid, their terms of engagement or where the money came from to pay them.
4. The office of His Royal Highness and The Lower Axim Traditional Council will therefore urge all to desist from unwarranted commentaries that will seek to impute misfeasance and lack of integrity on the part of the Traditional Council.
5. The office of His Royal Highness and The Lower Axim Traditional Council wishes to thank all well-meaning subjects of the stool and well-wishers who by various means showed concern for what appears to be a material misstatement of facts by the former Honourable Member of Parliament in her submission during an interview. This press statement, for all intents and purposes should bring finality on this matter in terms of the position of the Traditional Council and the stool of the Lower Axim traditional Paramountcy.
6. The public, therefore, has the fullest assurances of the Council that it will continue to be the embodiment of traditional moral values and virtues and will always put the development of its people first.

May our Ancestors bear witness to this statement

Signed

AWULAE ATTIBRUKUSU III

PRESIDENT- LOWER AXIM TRADITIONAL COUNCIL,

FORMER VICE PRESIDENT- NATIONAL HOUSE OF CHIEFS &

FORMER WESTERN REGIONAL HOUSE OF CHIEFS PRESIDENT

ABOUT AXIM AND THE KUNDUM FESTIVAL

Axim is an old, historical Nzema coastal town located west of Cape three Points, the southernmost part of Ghana in the Western Region. It is home to the second fort built by the Portuguese in 1515 after Elmina Castle.  Administratively, Axim is in the Nzema East Municipality with the major economic activities there being fishing and crop farming. It has one of the finest stretches of beach you can find in Ghana. It is also known for recording some of the highest rainfalls this country has ever witnessed in decades.

The main traditional festival – Kundum coinciding with the best fishing-catch period of the year, on the first Sunday to the Saturday of September every year.