Author: Beyonce Diamond Kpogli
As part of the Homowo Festival celebrations within the Weija-Gbawe enclave of the Greater Accra Region, Hon. Tina Gifty Yaa Ayele Mensah, who also doubles as the Member of Parliament for the Weija-Gbawe Constituency and Deputy Minister of Health, together with her Municipal Chief Executive Patrick Kumor on Saturday organized a cooking contest for the constituents as part of activities for the 2023 Ga Homowo Festival.
The event was aimed at bringing all the constituents together to have fun and make merry irrespective of their political colours.
The contest dubbed “Hon Tina’s Homowo Cooking Contest Business Fiesta” saw contestants from all the 14 electoral areas in the constituency merged into 7 groups.
The event was held in partnership with ONGA Cooking Spices.
The contest, which commenced in the early hours of Saturday, September 9, saw contestants from the 7 groups preparing various local meals.
Gbawe North and New Gbawe prepared Omotuo & groundnut Soup, Okpogo and Weija prepared Kpopoi and Palm Nut Soup, New Weija East and Tettegu prepared Ampesi & Palava Sauce, Gbawe Central and Gbawe North prepared Fufu & Abunuabunu. Mallam North and McCarthy Hills prepared Akple & Okro Soup, Djama and Gbawe South prepared Aprapransa & Koto whereas New Weija West and New Weija Central prepared Tuo Zaafi & Ayoyo Soup.
The winners were Okpogo and Weija, 1st Runner-Up, Gbawe North and New Gbawe, 2nd Runner-Up, New Weija West and New Weija Central, received Stainless Steel Cooking utensils, Rice Cookers and Air Fryers and hampers respectively.
During an interaction with the media, Hon. Tina Gifty Yaa Ayele Mensah said the contest just brought out constituents from all walks of life to have fun.
“We work so hard that we do not make any merry as a people. It is good to make merry and enjoy life once in a while; so since we are within the Homowo celebrations, we came up with this to cheer ourselves up. I’m delighted to have my people around me. As you can see everyone is happy and this is what we have to do once in a while”.
“People have talents so when we organize this contest, we will be able to identify what people are good at, and when jobs or contracts come we know that people are within us that can do it and do it well. Today we have realized that we have good cooks in here so when we need cooks we are not going outside to look for cooks, we will just call them for the job”, she explained.
Touching on the current brouhaha about the new voter registration, she said “On the issue of the registration I cannot say the government is doing the right thing or not, because this is not the first time we are to register people at the district offices. We have been doing it over the years so I don’t see the hypocrisy of it that some are saying they have to go to their doorsteps. Yes the EC has the resources that they could come to our doorsteps and we will be happy but I think the EC is doing so due to financial constraints. At Weija-Gbawe Constituency, we are ready for anything the EC will come out with”, Hon Tina Mensah assured.
Alhaji Eliasu Ahmmed Garbey from Okpogo and Weija, the winners of the cooking contest on behalf of his colleagues, commended Hon Tina Gifty Yaa Ayele Mensah and ONGA for putting this contest together for the community people.
