by Kwame Obiri Yeboah
The time has come to open the dialogue and discourse on the reconsideration of Ashanti independence, autonomy or federation. Presently, the Ashanti finds himself in the same situation before Osei Tutu I ascended the throne. In fact, the parallel is frighteningly striking. To the Ashanti, the Ghanaian government, 250 miles away, represents the same symbol as Ntim Gyakari and the Denkyira. Then, the Ashanti had his land and his enterprise. Yet, to dispose of his toil, Ntim Gyakari took his share; just as the Accra takes its share today. To blow his nose today, the Ashanti needs to ask permission from Accra. And since 1957, no history has been made in Ashanti. Today, the only consolation is that he is still drinking from his cup of pride; a cup filled by his fathers. But he has no stake in his destiny. In realty, Ghana’s independence was Ashanti’s capitulation. And it has remained thus since then. But why must the Ashanti reconsider now? This question would be asked. The inquirer might as well make a sojourn to Bremen mausoleum and ask Osei Tutu I himself. But why now?
THE FRANKENSTIEN MONSTER.
Fifty years of African independence has illuminated the Frankenstein nature of African countries. Like the monster, African countries had been put together by different components from different beings; a brain from one, a liver from another with total disregard for its compatibility. Consequently, a being has come into existence; a being so grotesque that it barely functions. It stumbles along, vision blurred, speech slurred and foaming constantly at the mouth. Ghana was the first child of this monster and the Ashanti, the harvested part. Just as the liver suffers when the heart or the brain of a being is unwell, so does the Ashanti (the harvested part) suffers because of the corrupt nature of bureaucracy in Accra.
THE ASHANTI PSYCHE.
The description of Kumasi as the Garden city of Africa by the future Queen of England extolled the healthy nature of the Ashanti psyche up until the 1957. Kumasi was neither a colonial capital nor a coastal city. It was built by Asantes; something almost unheard of back then. But this development- Ashanti development- was arrested when Ghana got its independence. To give the same description today would be uncontrollably hilarious. And it directly illustrates the stagnation and the regression of the Asante psyche. Kumasi now is a stale city but there is no mystery to this phenomenon. It is the direct result of the submission of the Ashanti under the bureaucracy of Accra. It is no coincidence that no major development has been undertaken in Kumasi since Ghana’s independence. What has happened?
TRIBUTES.
After the capitulation of Ashanti after the Yaa Asantewaa war and the subsequent Seychelles exiles, the Ashanti has been paying tributes; first to the British and increased and continued by Nkrumah up to this day. In fact, the implicit reason behind the formation of National liberation movement (NLM) - the first Ashanti political party- was a direct reaction to Nkrumah’s increments. Baafour Akoto and others had hoped that the restoration of Asanteman confederacy and the impending talks about Gold Coast’s independence would address this problem. They had thought Federation would alleviate and relieve the Ashanti’s of this burden. But so to be Ghanaians had other plans. They would prefer dictatorship to freedom.
Baafour Akoto nearly lost his life. Others were not so lucky. Today, the bureaucracy in Accra continues to drain the Ashanti coffers and the Ashanti is left with no option. If he continues his father’s tradition – farming- Accra takes its share. It he gets an education, Accra provides him with no employment. His only option now is to export his labor. So he seeks his destiny elsewhere. But when he sends home his sweat, Accra still has its hands in it. The bureaucracy in Accra has its grip around his neck. Whatever comes in or out depends on the magnitude of the grip.
IMMIGRATION.
It will be a modest estimation to suggest that half of households in Ashanti have lost someone to pastures somewhere. (We are not referring to the overblown tragedy of brain drain. Limited spaces at the universities mean that only a few gets a degree. But what is the essence of a degree when there is no working class). Many an Ashanti would never see his home again. A curse he would have to carry because of his citizenship of every corrupt entity; a curse by association. Ashanti independence would guarantee that the only time an Ashanti leaves his land is to go on vacation; a privilege Accra currently enjoys. But the Ashanti has chosen the curse because it is easier and cowardly. He would rather not see his home again than to stand his ground and claim what is his.
ECONOMIC CONTROL.
This piece is not a declaration. Rather, it is a compromised and summarized polemics by the various entities who lend their signatures-below- to this piece. But this is what we would want in the not too distance future: the explicit control of all economic activity and civil administration in Ashanti with no link to the bureaucracy in Accra except foreign policy and international relations. All human activity, in essence, land, natural resources, raw materials, produced goods and labor would be subjected to an independent, autonomous or federalized Ashanti administration without fear or interference from beyond Dadeaso.
SELF-PRESERVATION.
Ghana should rid itself of this misconception: this is not about the Mamprusi or the Nzema or the Ewe (Nkrumah’s propaganda for retaining absolute power). Ashanti’s deplorable state is directly tied to the corrupt and the decadent bureaucratic system in Accra; a flawed system beset by its initial condition. The Ashanti must reconsider the preservation of his soul just as Osei Tutu I did then. The Ghanaian must also reconsider. 4.5 million Homogeneous people should be allowed to carve a place for themselves on this MIGHTY EARTH and decide their own destiny; especially a people with the historical experience. After all it does not bold well for the Ghanaian to sit at the same table with the “uneducated, backward, conservative, burgher and tribalistic” Ashanti. TO THE ASHANTI.
This idea- autonomous Ashanti- burns in the very depths of every Ashanti. Thus this dialogue must be open again. If the Ashanti needs guidance or the foundation on which to plant his feet, Baafour Akoto’s original ideas should serve as the starting point. HISTORY IS ON OUR SIDE.
SIGNED The General Secretaries
THE POLEMICAL SOCIETY FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF ASHANTI SOVEREIGNTY ASHANTI AUTONOMOUS SOCIETY ASHANTI FEDERATION CAUCUS FEDERATION GREEN SOCIETY
Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.
