Winneba Masquerade Festival : The First Party Of The Year In Ghana

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If you want to start your New Year with colour, celebration, and pure energy, there is only one place to be on 1st January, Winneba . While everybody is still sleeping after 31st Night, Winneba is already awake. Drums, brass band, costumes, masks. This is the Winneba Masquerade Festival, locally called Fancy Dress. It is the first major festival in Ghana every year. And it is the second biggest festival in Winneba after Aboakyer. There is a morning in Winneba that does not feel like any other morning in Ghana. By 7am, you can hear it. The brass band far away. The drum, shouting and the crowd. If you are in Winneba on that day, you cannot stay in your room. The sound will drag you out. I remember the first time I followed the sound. I thought something had happened. I thought maybe there was a funeral. But when I reached the road, I saw something I had never seen before. Men wearing masks. Big, colourful, scary, beautiful masks. Some looked like animals. Some looked like old white men ...

Parliament Approves Construction Of TVET Facility At Agona West

Parliament has approved the construction of a Technical, Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) facility at Agona West to enhance skills training to boost private business growth.



Mrs Cynthia Mamle Morrison, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Agona West, made this known when she addressed more than 600 trainees at the newly commissioned Business Resource Centre at Swedru.

They are being taught beads and fascinators making, baking, wedding decorations, make-up, fabric décor works, bridal fans and floral arrangements.

Mrs Morrison, also the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said per Parliament’s approval before recess last week, the contract documents and procurement processes had been completed for the release of funds for work to start on the project.

She said the project would offer employment to the youth of Agona West through the technical skills they would acquire.

The Gender Minister said about 400 of the trainees had never acquired vocational training but were learning all the 10 skills being taught by facilitators from Aseda Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.

She said the President Akufo-Addo-led government was poised to ensuring that women were empowered to setup and manage their own businesses to make them economically independent.

She said the Project, when complete, would give more impetus to junior and senior high school graduates to learn trades including carpentry, masonry, plumbing, and auto electrical to minimise migration to urban areas in search of none-existent jobs.

Madam Diana Adjei, the Chief Executive Officer of Aseda Foundation, said the Foundation was offering training to the participants free of charge.


She said the Foundation collaborated with the Gender Minister to train young girls in 10 vocational skills.


The Aseda Foundation is currently operating in nine out of the 16 regions, offering free vocational training to graduates of JHS, SHS and the tertiary level to establish their businesses for economic growth.