Kwahu Easter: Economic challenges bite revellers, food vendors

THE enthusiasm usually associated with the Kwahu Easter festivities over the years seems absent this year particularly in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital.

Previously, during and even before the start of the festivities, some service providers and traders from Koforidua ply their wares in Kwahu also in the Eastern Region to cash in on the economic opportunities that always come with the celebrations. 

This can probably be linked to the current economic challenges which have negatively affected most people who are now finding it difficult to make ends meet. Prices of goods and services are so high that most of the people just cannot afford them.

For instance, local fowls currently sell between GH¢200 and GH¢250 depending on the size as compared to last year when it sold at GH¢100. 

Also, the prices of goat, sheep, turkey among others have equally hit the roof making it difficult for the ordinary person to buy.

In addition, prices of vegetables, food stuff and other ingredients needed for the preparation of food are equally high. 

Due to the hikes in prices of goods and services,  a number of people The Mirror spoke to at New Juaben South and New Juaben North municipalities revealed that celebrating  Easter was the farthest from their minds.

Others even told this reporter that they were not even aware the Kwahu Easter festivities were happening this weekend.

A trader who sells vegetables at the Koforidua Agartha Market, Obaa Kumi said going to Kwahu for Easter  this year was not part of her plans. Her priority was how to get money to pay for her transport fare to her home town, Akim Oda, a distance which will cost her about GHc90 for a return trip.

A hairdresser at the Koforidua Central Market, Linda Otubea said her business was at the verge of collapse because most of her clients had stopped visiting her salon due to the economic challenges in the country.

“As a hairdresser, I have previously done brisk business at Kwahu Easter on a number of occasions but I don’t intend to go there this year because business is slow everywhere and I am sure to operate at a loss,” she added.

On her part, a waakye seller at Koforidua, Hajia Sahadatu Zakari, who usually pitches camp at Kwahu to sell her food has also decided to let this year’s Easter celebrations at Kwahu pass. 

According to her, she doesn’t have enough money to make the kind of waakye she usually sold in the Kwahu area.
She added that even the high cost of transportation from Koforidua to Kwahu would not allow her make any meaningful profit.

“If I look at what I will spend to get to Kwahu and back, in addition to the high cost of ingredients to prepare my waakye, going to Kwahu for this year’s Easter festivities would rather impoverish me”, she added.