Offinso
Offinso
Offinso New Town | |
|---|---|
District Capital | |
| Region | Ashanti Region |
| District | Offinso Municipal |
| Elevation | 348 ft (106 m) |
Offinso, the once capital of Offinso District is a town in the Offinso Municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana - the town is about fifteen minutes drive from Kumasi, the capital of the Region; due to Offinso's proximity to Kumasi, many of the Offinso natives have relocated to Kumasi.
The indigenous people are Asantes (Asantefoɔ) thus the dominance of Asante Culture in the town.
Offinso is the anglicised version of 'ɔfenso'. The town was named after the River Ofe (ɔfe in Asante) which serves as the boundary for the Offinso South Municipality and Ahenkro, a town in the Afigya Sekyere District also in Ashanti Region.
History and population
The old Offinso District was divided into Offinso South Municipal and Offinso North District with their capitals at New Offinso and Akomadan respectively.
According to the 2000 Population Census in Ghana, 138,190 inhabitants were living in Offinso - most of them being the native Asante people.
During the colonial era, Offinso played a major role in the war between the British and the Asantes, after the war, the then Asantehene gave the then Offinso Manhene a vast land from the stream Nkau, before River Offin to Ahyiaɛm for his enormous contributions during the war. History has it that the vast land was given to the Offinso Omanhene on his request - he wanted nothing but land as his reward for the contributions he made during the war.
Ahyiaɛm, a town in the Offinso North District, borders the Brong-Ahafo Regionof Ghana.
Typical of any Akan community, Offinso has a festival called Mmoaninko(Mmoaninkɔ)- during the celebration of this festival, many events take place: beauty pageant, bicycle racing, football competition, draught (dame) and many others. In the bicycle racing, the cyclists are required to ride their own bicycles from Ahyiaɛm to the ɔmanhene's palace at Dentin, New Offinso.
Occupations
Most of the inhabitants are farmers whilst others also work as traders, teachers, drivers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, military officers, accountants and others.
Offinso South Municipal is home to four large market centres: Kɔkɔte, Krofrom, Anyinasuso and the Abɔfoɔ (Abofour) markets - people living in and around Offinso bring food items, clothes, shoes and other items to sell during the market days: Sunaday, Friday, Tuesday and Thursday respectively.
Education
Offinso has several government-owned and private Primary and Junior High Schools; Offinso is also home to the Offinso Training College (OTC) now Offinso College of Education, Jones Polytechnic, Dwamena Akenten Senior High School, Namong Senior High Technical School, St. Jerome Senior High School, The Bible Baptist Missionary Association of Africa Bible School (Agyeimpra, Offinso) and the St. Patrick's Midwifery Training School (Maase - Offinso). There is also a technical school at Amoawi, a suburb of Offinso.
The University of Education, Winneba has planned to open a campus at Offinso.
A two-storey library complex has also been built in Offinso to assist students of this town in their studies.
Some of the Primary and Junior High Schools are Offinso State 'A' JHS (public), OTC JHS (public), Abofour New Life Int. School (Abofour - Offinso), Blessed Child School (private), King Solomon Int. School (private),Offinso State 'B' JHS (public), Offinso State 'C' JHS (public), Immaculate Heart Preparatory (private), Future Island School (private), Osei Sarpong International School (Private), Namong Methodist JHS (Public), Agyeimpra Methodist Primary School (Public), Dominican International School (Private) etc.
Politics
The town is ruled by the ɔmanhene (the paramount Chief) and his sub chiefs.
Offinso also has a Municipal Chief Executive who is appointed by the president of Ghana.
The town also has one representative at the Ghana's Parliament - the current MP for Offinso South Constituency is Hon. Ben Abdallah Bandah - he belongs to the New Patriotic Party, NPP.
Accommodations
Offinso has several hotels and guesthouses - BECO Guest House (Main and Annex), PKD Guest House, Bakana Hotel, Bakana Guest House,Tonto Guest House, Power Guest House (Abofour), etc.
Notable people
- Dominic Adiyiah (striker, Nakhon Ratchasima and the National Team, Black Stars of Ghana)
Religion
Christianity dominates in this town though there is a significant number of Muslims and Traditional Worshipers in this town.
