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None of the two Asafo companies made a catch at this year's Aboakyer Festival of the chiefs and the people of the Effutu Traditional Area in the Central Region. After seven hours of searching for a deer as tradition demands, the two Asafo companies � the Tuafo Number One and the Dentsifo Number Two � returned empty-handed. A catch of a deer signifies bumper harvest for the people of the traditional area in the year. The annual festival has been dogged by sharp differences and disputes between the two rival factions of the Effutu Stool. To avert any untoward situation and clashes this year, the Ghana Police Service had sought an order for an interim injunction at the Agona Swedru Circuit Court to restrain the Aboakyer Planning Committee and all members of the Effutu State from celebrating the festival. The court, presided over by Mr N.K.E. Osam, had granted the order and further restrained the people from organising any activity in Winneba for a period of 10 days. That followed the failure, after a series of meetings with the factions and stakeholders, to appoint one person to step on the catch when it was presented to the chiefs at the durbar grounds. However, at a meeting among the Central Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Sarpong, the two Asafo companies and the Otuano Royal House, it was agreed that the stepping on the live deer, when caught, would not be performed this year. It was after an undertaking to that effect had been signed that the injunction was waived for the festival to go ahead. Apart from the heavy police presence in Winneba, the durbar grounds, which used to be full of activities in the early morning with people who were anxious to see the catch, witnessed few onlookers.