Gbese Mantse dies after leading Homowo drumming ban lift
Nii Ayi-Bonte II beat the Odadao to lift Homowo’s drumming ban, then died two days later after a short illness, closing his public life in a ritual moment.
Nii Ayi-Bonte II’s final public appearance carried the full weight of Homowo’s civic and ceremonial life. The Gbese Mantse led the traditional drumming and noise-making rites that marked the end of the Ga State’s month-long ban, beating the Odadao and moving through parts of Gbese as subjects accompanied him in celebration.
That ritual mattered far beyond a single community performance. The Ga Traditional Council’s 2026 ban ran from May 4 to June 4 across the Ga Traditional Area, keeping drumming, loud music, loud sound systems, funerals and other excessive noise in check until the customary lift. For drummers and elders alike, the restriction is part of the spiritual preparation for Homowo, the Ga people’s major harvest festival, whose name means “hooting at hunger” and recalls their survival of famine.
Nii Ayi-Bonte II, known in private life as Thomas Okine, died on Saturday, June 6, 2026, after a short illness. Reports say he had been installed as Gbese Mantse in 2007, and his death brought mourning to both the Gbese community and the wider football fraternity. He was remembered especially for his role in Accra Hearts of Oak during the club’s successful years in the 1990s and early 2000s.
His last act in public life now stands as more than a ceremonial appearance. It linked the authority of Gbese to one of the Ga State’s most visible musical traditions, the moment when silence gives way to the first permitted beats after a month of restraint. In Homowo, the return of drumming is never background noise; it is the sound of a people marking survival, identity and continuity, with the Mantse who lifted the ban leaving that ceremony as his final public beat.
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