Otumfoↄ, Ghana man da w’ase ‘ԑnsa

IT would be an exhibition of false modesty were I to fail to acknowledge that the Asantehene, Otumfoↄ Ↄsἑe Tutu The Second, sent a very warm glow through my being when, at a meeting with the Asante House of Chiefs on 15 December 2022, he mentioned me by name and said he agreed with something I had written in one of my articles. (Please Google Youtube for the full report).

Otumfoↄ said, QUOTE:

"CAMERON DUODU, a Citizen Journalist who writes articles in the newspapers--- he said in one of his articles that he was surprised to hear that some Nananom [Chiefs] had said that they had ‘no power’ to stop galamsey.

When I read it, I said, what he says is true, because if you, the chief, who has been given land to take care of, (say at Bekwai or Mampong) – you who now looks after all that land –if someone has come to that land and is doing galamsey on it, and you haven’t agreed to it, does it mean you have no power to say ‘No’ to him?

“Whereas, if someone had encroached on your borders and taken your land, you would swear The Great Oath of Otumfoↄ and bring him before me? So as for this, Nananom, we are all in it. Whoever has galamsey on his land is involved in it. Whoever has land on which the water is being destroyed – someone has come to your land and is destroying the water your people drink – then, you are involved!

“So, you say he has a gun. Well, don’t go there. Well, come to Kumase and report it to me. Just as you would report to me if someone swore the Great Oath. Come and tell me and I shall request the Regional Minister to send soldiers there. So, from now on, any chief who sits by and allows galamsey to take place on his land, we shall call him here and ask him, how is it that you sat there and allowed galamsey to take place on your land?

“If someone had signed a contract and come to show you a piece of paper and because of that, you allowed him to destroy your water and your land, then it means you know something about it. We shall institute a charge against you.

“These are days when the environment is being taken seriously at a global level. You all heard about what happened at the COP 27 conferences in Cairo. And we sit here and destroy our water and our land? From next year, we shall comb Asante’s lands. If there is galamsey on your land, we shall ask you why. We shall ask ‘what do you rule the land for? Your ancestors left it to you and you are watching it destroyed. Why?” UNQUOTE

The Asantehene could have explained that there are two types of “power” in existence – hard and soft power. Hard power consists of using “sticks and carrots” to get someone to do as one wishes, whereas soft power employs culture and persuasion to achieve the same ends.

In our culture, for instance, society can punish its errant members in several sorts of ways. Among the most effective are naming and shaming. People can gather behind your house and rain insults on you for you to hear if you do harm to society at large.

The proverbs, “a good name is better than riches” and “disgrace does not befit an Akan-born person,” illustrate the degree of importance that is attached to winning and retaining a respected “status” in our traditional society.

We respectfully call an elderly person or an office-holder, “an elder” [Ↄpanin]. We call a chief “Nana” – the same appellation we give to our own grandparents. And there are ancillary virtues and qualities we value – we don’t want to fall into debt; we look down on sexual misbehavior and we consider going to prison a misfortune that “dirties” a person’s soul.

Other forms of social punishment are: refusing to take someone’s hand when it is offered in greeting and closing one’s eyes firmly, and turning one’s head away when someone tries to look one in the eye.

To refuse to respond when one is greeted with “good morning” good afternoon” or “good evening” is, in particular, a sign of unmistakable ill will that must be taken seriously, because we are so fond of exchanging warm greetings with one another.

The above is normally interactions that occur between one individual and another. When such signs of displeasure extend beyond the individuals in society, they become more serious. An errant member of society can be hooted at, on sight, by groups of children and other inhabitants of a town or village.

Such a person can be banned from visiting the chief’s palace; or the home of his or her clan head. The very worst of the social punishments is to be named, in a “gongong” [Dawuro] message that is “broadcast” through the streets, per instructions from the chief and his elders, that a named person is someone whom everyone should shun.

In the past, such punishments could lead to suicide on the part of the guilty individual, for Ghanaians are, normally, very gregarious persons, and ostracism, (even of a minor nature) can lead to trauma and severe depression.

Therefore the traditional social setup in Ghana can be utilised by a chief who takes his leadership role seriously, to prevent horrendous practices like galamsey, from posing an existential threat to society, by endangering the lives of millions of those alive as well as the as-yet-unborn.

Who can survive (for instance) people shouting on seeing someone: “Galamseeeeeey oooooooh?”...

Galamseeeeeereeey oooooh oooooh!” The hooted person would have to leave the town or village. But someone must start it, and the chief is the one who, traditionally endowed with the “power” to do so.

Can the Central Government go and order the people not to hoot at one of their own who is shamelessly destroying their water bodies and causing their water treatment plant to be shut down, and simultaneously preventing them from being able to gain access to their own food and cocoa farms?

Finally, there is the collective civil defence option. Every village in Ghana has a semi-military self-defense mechanism that has been bequeathed to the people by the ancestors of the current inhabitants. It is to these groups, known as the “Asafo” (literally mass formation) that the military defence of the locality was entrusted.

They are called into existence as soon as a threat is perceived: for example, when strangers raid villages and towns in search of children whose hearts they can remove for superstitious practices (atetenkorona) or murderers who abduct women and kill them after raping them (akodimmaa).

In peaceful times, the Asafo groups practice defence manoeuvres and war games, and so are able to fall into line as soon as an emergency arises in their habitats. Alliances with nearby villages help to provide a proficient local defence mechanism in the rural areas, which can operate before the Central Government’s police arrive (if they do”). But, as noted by the Asantehene, they must first be mobilised by their local leadership – their own chiefs.

They, it must be pointed out, never “fight alone”, but call upon their allies with whom they had interacted from ages ago. Such alliances extend beyond nearby localities, all the way up to the state capital.

If the Nifahene [Chief of the State’s Rightwing)] calls on the Benkumhene [Leftwing Chief] for assistance in a campaign against wayfarers and or malefactors, the assistance will come. And vice-versa. At worst, the Omanhene [Paramount Chief] would be informed, and he would send reinforcements (if necessary) from the other divisions of his state structure.

We have all this, AND YET WE ARE LOSING OUR WATER”!

We have ignored this MULTIFARIOUS AND EFFECTIVE system of traditional self-defence, to rely on a central authority system that is too remote to really care, or too corrupt to effectively intervene.

We have to accept the unsavoury fact that many of our current systems of the ruling were created by foreign rulers IN THEIR OWN IMAGE for their own purposes, AND DO lack the psychological NOUS without which you can set up a thousand “Operation Vanguards” and “Operation Halts” but achieve nothing.

Otumfoↄ the Asantehene would, I am sure want to resurrect his war machine and use it in a civilian manner to lead his people to stop galamsey. So, I am sure, would the Okyenhene, Nana Amoatia Ofori Panin.

But perhaps the Paramount Chief of Sefwi Wiawso is the Chief who has taken the most commendable and radical action to try and stop galamsey in his region. He deserves the greatest commendation of all. Read this report on what he has done so far. For yourself, dear reader:

QUOTE: The Paramount Chief of Sefwi Wiawso in the Western North Region, Katakyie Kwasi Bumagama II, has initiated a strong move against galamsey in the area. With immediate effect, any form of illegal mining would not be entertained and should be considered as completely "banned" in the area, Katakyie Bumaga II has indicated...

“He issued the decree through the chief of Paboase, Nana Frimpong Manso, during a meeting with divisional Chiefs at Okogyeabour Palace, in Sefwi Wiawso, to solicit their support to carry through his action.

“Per the directive, all divisional chiefs have two weeks to ensure that all earth-moving machines and heavy equipment used in galamsey activities are moved from all galamsey sites. [That action] is to be followed by regular visits to the sites, ... using informants to track and arrest the perpetrators of galamsey.

Galamsey (the chief said) had “caused extensive damage to the environment, particularly water-bodies, forest reserves, and farmland, and threatened food security with debilitating socio-economic consequences." According to Katakyie Kwasi Bumagama II, “the fight against illegal mining was not the responsibility of politicians alone but all Ghanaians. Any chief under Sefwi Wiawso Traditional Council who goes contrary to my orders will be sanctioned," he warned.

He said settlers who had sold their farmlands or were planning to sell them to galamsey operators, “should stop forthwith, or have their lands seized.”

What have the other chiefs got to say about that?