Dagombas and Ethnocentrism

As a northern Ghanaian who has some part of my family history coming from Dagomba I often feel disappointed, angry and sad to listen to Dagombas talking about other who are not Dagombas. Since the killing of the Ya Naa and his elders I have noticed that any time an article is written about Dagbon crisis people write a lot of nonsense about who is not a Dagomba and who is a Dagomba. They forget that there is no pure Dagomba. Not even the Dagomba kings. Dagombas are a mixture of almost all northern Ghana tribes and groups from other countries.

Two days ago some one wrote an article on Ghanaweb about ‘Why the preferred Akuffo Addo to Aliu Mahama’ and when you read the comments you feel shocked and sad. Well we all know that Malik Yakubu cannot rise to the top position in politics in Ghana because he did not handle the Yendi crisis well enough as Interior Minister. Many people say that Malik Yakubu lost his political chance on the day the Ya Naa was killed and that he committed political suicide by allowing the Ya Naa to die.

This is one of the anonymous comments from the Ghanaweb article I am talking about here. One Ujamma Uhuru wrote: Malik Yakubu lost his golden chance of ever becoming a top politician the day the Ya Naa was killed. And on that same day all Dagombas lost their bright chance of becoming top politicians. Malik is so short sighted about what politics is all about. I used to think that he was so intelligent when I was child, but what happened in 2002 changed my opinion of him. What we know is that politicians always look at their ambition against the reality of things on the ground. …..If Malik was wise he would have been able to see that he could use his intelligence to force the funeral … ( of Naa Mahamadu ) without killing the Ya Naa. ……………..Alas he was so un-wise and signed his own political death by allowing lawlessness to prevail. The sad thing is that he committed political suicide and took with him many good meaning, wise and capable Dagomba NPP politicians like Alhaji Mustapha Idris, Dr. Majeed Haruna etc……….he smeared them ………… their chances have become limited. Malik Yakubu is gone for ever……I hope we all forsake Malik”

Well, let us forget about Malik. The ignorant Dagombas who often say that Ibrahim Mahama, Adam Ibrahim, Aliu Mahama, etc are not Dagombas don’t know their own Dagomba history. No Dagomba is pure even the kings of Dagomba. The history says that Tohazie (grandfather of Naa Gbewaa) came from Zamfara and through Mali. His wife was a crippled woman from a Mali king. (But many Dagombas make fun of those who are disabled. You have to listen to some Dagomba saying something about a person’s imperfection. You can write a book about it). Tohazie ‘s son married the daughter of the king of Gruma, and gave birth to Naa Gbewaa. The Gruma people are the same linguistic stock as the Bimobas (very close) and are also related to Kusasi, and the other Mole Dagbani groups. Naa Gbewaa’s sons and daughter married from all the linguistic groups around Pusiga, Bawku, Fadangruma, Bongo, Zebilla etc. and his only daughter created Mossi Kingdom. Also after the creation of Gambaga/ Nalerigu as capital, Gbewaa’s senior son Tohagu married from indigenous tribes and the other sons also did throughout their history. The Dagomba Ya Naa family has blood from Hausa, Zambrama, Wangara or Dyula, Dandaawa, Konkomba, Basari, Kotokoli, etc in them. Read your history books or talk to the Dagomba drummers they will tell you. So you see Dagombas are made up of many northern tribes and other countries.

Now, those ignorant ones among the Dagombas have to stop these ignorant statements. Barack Obama is white and his also black. Who can deny him to say he is not white and who deny him to say he is not black? You can say hwat you like but hs still black and he is still white. Your opinion does not change the fact about his chemistry . This is so simple. So, Mr ignorant Dagbandoo and Mis ignorant Dagbanpaga listen now. To say that someone is not a Dagomba because only one parent is a Dagomba is to say that Barack Obama is not black and you are also saying that he is not white. How can you take out the white blood from Obama and how can you take out the black blood Obama? So if a person has ONE parent who is not Dagomba tell me how you are going to take out his Dagomba blood and make him the pure of the other tribe. Idiot!!

It is time for these ignorant Dagombas to wake up and see that we are in the 21st century. Don’t continue to enslave our mind. Slavery is gone and Barak Obama has become president of the United States. Dagombas are nothing pure but mixture of many ethnic groups. Go to Yendi and see if you can find a pure Dagomba. Ask the people of Tolon, Diyaari, or Savelugu and find out how many have blood from either Navrongo, Daboya, Sandema, Bawku, Yapei, Tumu, Wa etc. Stop your ethnocentrism.