Statement: Concern Youth Of Wa (Cyw) Reaction

CONCERN YOUTH OF WA (CYW) REACTION TO A STATEMENT MADE BY BENARD AMBATAAYELA MORNAH POTRAYING WA AS A LAND WITHOUT SPECIFIC INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

We write to refute the nasty statements of Bernard Ambataayela Mornah in which he implies that the land Wa has no indigenous people.

Per that he stated in radio upper west an interview granted by Tony Good, Mornaa displayed ignorance and disrespect at its zenith about Wa and its people (indigenes). These were the exact words used of Benard Ambataayela in that interview. ‘’.......who is a Wala? If you may help me define that who a Wala is. I don’t know whether a Wala is a Muslim and that once you are a Muslim you are a Wala.

I am trying to find hard the definition of who a Wala is.......... it is a very amorphous thing and complex to define. Well you know tony, i have tried as much not to invoke tribalism. And in any case the development of our community (where you live) is not the sole preserve of, if there is any a Wala, is not........’’

We the good people of Wa and of Wala extraction find the above quoted words of Benard Ambataayela Mornaa as obnoxious and the most unfortunate ever to be said by anybody as far as politics in the Wa Central is constituency is concerned. It is better for Mornaa to note that the land, Wa has indigenous people called Walas. And that Walas do not do tribal politics. This claim of ours are backed by the fact alhaji M.A. Seidu (though not an indigenous Wala) was elected a member of parliament for Wa Central on three consecutive parliamentary terms (1992, 1996 and 2000).

In respect of Mornaa’s statement s we wish to state the fact as follows.

That Walas are the indigenous people of Wa. Being a Moslem does not mean one is a Wala. The fact however is that the Wala is a tribe whose members are predominant predominantly Moslems. If not there are other tribes in the region who embraced the Moslem faith.

In terms of traditional setup, Walas are classified under Nabihi (royals) headed by the Wa-Naa, tendamba (landlords) headed by the Widaana, Yerinamine (Chief of Moslems) headed by the Yeri-Naa, Limanhi (Imams) headed by the Wa Liman, Frokos among others. Walas as a tribe is further explained by this illustrations; the homespun census of 1921 broke down the population of the Wa district by ‘’tribe’’. The number of Walas counted was 16,905, of dagaati, 19,619, Gurunshi (or Sisaala) 5,346 and of others described as Fulani, Hausa, Lobi, etc. 1,298,(see Wilks, Wa and the Walas-1986 Cambridge University press, Cambridge, pages 13-14).

Also under the native authority system Wa and its divisions were defined as in the table below.

DIVISION CATEGORY POPULATION

Wa Wa

Busa Wa

Sing Wa

Pirisi Wa

Guli Wa

Dorimon Wa

Wechiau Wa

Funsi Sisaala

Kundugu Sisaala

Kaleo Dagaati

Busie Dagaati

Dafiama Dagaati

Issa Dagaati

Nadowli dagaati

(Wilks, Wa and the Walas 1989, page 11)

Judging from the above, one clearly sees that the Wala tribe has co-existed peacefully with the Dagaaba and others for centuries. We regard one another as brothers and sisters having almost come from the same place, Dagbon. Mornaa should there for concentrate on clean politics rather than try to create some form of acrimony between Wala and Dagaaba if he wants to build his career. What does he mean by who is a Wala?

Also has he not known that Wa is even a kingdom? Historical evidence showed that by 1931 the colonial administrators have identified only five kingdoms in the whole of Gold Coast (now Ghana). These were the Wala kingdom, Dagomba kingdom, the Mamprusi kingdom and the Ashanti kingdom. Or is it the case that once can refer to a whole kingdom as a land without land without identifiable indigenous people?

Moanah should tell us. Can he dare say anything similar to what he said in Wa, at Yendi, Tamale, Damongo or Kumasi?

To further buttress our point we will like to quote Benjamin Kumbuor renowned politician and a law lecturer, where he writes, ‘‘Among the communities of the upper west region, only the Malala and the Wala are known historically to have practiced a form of centralised political organisation during the pre-colonial era. The Wala ethnic group being the last offshoot of the Dagbon Empire, brought with them such a political arrangements now understood as chieftaincy (see wilks, 1976; and Songs, 1975). However the evidence shows that the princely (Nabihi) clan of Wa were not the first settlers. The tendamba of Suuriyiri were the first to arrive and settle in the area......’’ (Benjamin Kumbuor, 2009. Law and decentralised development in Northern Ghana page 14), thus the evidence above among others show that there are people called Wala.

IBRAHIM KADIRI (chairman)

Mob- 0209410239

ISAH IMORI (Secretary)

0208914408