How Koforidua, Dodowa, others became Akuapem lands

Dodowa is now in the Greater Accra Region, but did you know it belonged to the Akuapems before now? And that Koforidua belongs to the people of Akuapem?

While setting the records straight, the Kronti Osafohene of Akropong-Akuapem Nana Addo Kwataa who took his turn on GhanaWeb’s People and Place show, narrated the circumstances that led to the expansion of the territories of his people.

He noted that like many other places, Koforidua was added to the towns of the Akuapem people after they won the war against the Akwamus.

Nana Addo Kwataa intimated that, originally the Akuapem landscape is made up of 17 towns but was quick to add that the number has since inflated to over 500 due to the conquests of the other villages.

“Traditionally we have 17 towns, but today we have more than 500 towns in Akuapem…because now, we’ve spread up to ‘Coal Tar’, Kwaboantaw, Kofipare… all those villages belong to Akuapem now…”

“…After the war, our uncle removed the boundary so that he can give us more land… so from Densuso coming down, all belong to Akuapem. Even Kofordua was also Akuapems’, until after 120 years ago when we accepted the Juabens and settled them there,” he disclosed to Wonder Hagan.

The Akuapems became an independent state after seeking help from the Akyems to defeat the Akwamus.

Having signed the Abotakyi accord, however, the Akuapems and their ‘saviours’; the Akyems today live in peace as the latter serves as their overlord, with leaders from the Akuapem line serving as sub-chiefs to support the Okyenhene.

Making further revelations about their assets and territories, Subchief of the Kronti Osafohene, Ahenenanhene Osae Adade added that Dodowa, now the district capital of Shai Osudoku in the Greater Accra region used to be part of Akuapem lands.

He noted that the area which used to serve as the venue for the National House of Chiefs was culled out of the Eastern Region.

“…first Dodowa was part of Akuapem. Some village that was culled out of the Eastern Region. That was where we had the National House of Chiefs,” Ahenenanhene Osae Adade told Wonder Hagan.

The following 17 principal towns form the Akuapem state; Berekuso, Atweasing, Aburi, Ahwerase, Asantema (Obosomase), Tutu, Mampong, Abotakyi, Amanokurom, Mamfe, Akropong, Abiriw, Odawu, Awukugua, Adukrom, Apirede and Larteh.

There’s more in the full interview below: