The Bono people have celebrated this year’s Meko Bono Festival, a vibrant cultural celebration of their unity, heritage and aspirations.
This year’s celebrations were held from August 4–9, 2025, in Odomase, Sunyani West Municipality, with pre-festival events from August 1–3.
It featured cultural performances, food bazaars, beauty pageants, health screenings, as well as street carnivals.
The festival, pioneered by Nana Ama Kwakye, a Bono indigene in the diaspora, began as a cultural showcase and has now evolved into a unifying social movement, drawing chiefs, government officials, citizens, and diaspora communities from the Bono, Bono East, and beyond.
The highlight each year is a grand durbar, a gathering of the chiefs and people of Bonoman, serving both as a celebration of identity and a platform for dialogue on socio-economic development.
In a sweeping cultural convocation blending pageantry with purpose, the Grand Durbar of Meko Bono 2025 brought together traditional leaders, government officials, youth, creatives, and diaspora communities on the theme: “From Unity and Heritage to Prosperity”, at Odomase in the Bono Region.
The Paramount Chief of the Atebubu Traditional Area, Ohempon Dr Yeboah Asiamah, who chaired the event, framed the programme as both an ancestral calling and a modern mandate that was uniting Bono people across Ghana and around the world.
“Our unity is not accidental—it is ancestral,” he said, urging Bonoman to package, protect, and project the Bono heritage for national and global relevance.
The Paramount Chief of Dormaa, Osagyefo Oseadeayo Dr Agyemang Badu, urged all present to drive development in Bono and called for stronger unity among chiefs for that purpose.
For his part, the Paramount Chief of Odumase No. 1, Odomfour Dr Kwasi Apraku III, emphasised unity and love as the foundation for progress.
Speaking through Denkyira Kurotihene, the Denkyira Hemaa, Nana Ama Ayensua Saara III, described the festival as a homecoming for all Bono people and a bridge to connect communities across the globe.
A former Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, who represented former Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, highlighted strength in diversity and urged decisive action on chieftaincy disputes.
He called on the Regional House Chief to submit proposals to the Constitution Review Committee to formally address chieftaincy matters and pressed for alliances between traditional authorities and district/municipal assemblies to craft practical development plans for the Bono people.
The Bono Regional Minister, Joseph Addae Akwaboah, appealed for unity, pride in speaking the Bono language, and a swift resolution of disputes that impede progress.
He encouraged stakeholders to leverage the government’s “big push” to accelerate road development across the region.
The Bono East Regional Minister, Francis Owusu Antwi, called for a more centralised traditional authority structure to restore dignity and coherence in traditional leadership.
