The Asante/Ewe Schism, The Way Forward

Sarpong, Justice

The Asante/Ewe divide, whether it is a reality or mirage as some people

continue to believe should be looked into, at least in this forum and an

ambrosial solutions found on a heuristic approach.

Now that the jactations are over and we have had at least four days to mull over

Daniel Pryce article about the schism between Asantes and Ewes, lets fletcherize

about how to build a bridge to abridge the animosity between the two tribes.

Now that most people have got it off their chests by portraying themselves as

Angels, can we brainstorm and find what we need to do to at least cut down on

the tribal insults in the forum if we genuinely want a peaceful forum where

intelligent discourse can take place without insults? We can all have excuses

as to why we embark on the tribal insults but let's take the hogmanay offered to

us by Daniel Pryce on his December 31st article and start the year 2011 on a

clean slate and clean the forum of the filth.

I have few pointers that can help reduce this habit almost everybody is tripping

over each other by pontificating and proclaming their innocence and annointing

themselves to sainthood status.

It will be convenient in an article of this nature not to name names but the

truth might be told if this mission is to achieve its desired results.

FIRST, LETTING OUR CONSCIENCE BE OUR SECRET POLICE.

If we really want to build a brige to the Ewe/Asante divide, it is incumbent on

all Ewes and Asantes in this forum(SINCE THE ISSUE IS ABOUT ASANTES AND EWES) to

be watchdogs on each other.

I will prefer the Ewes to be the moral police on Ewes and Asantes to be the

moral police on Asantes. If you are an Asante and you see an Asante posting an

insulting message against Ewes, advise him or her to stop and Ewes should also

tell an Ewe if he or she sees an Ewe posting a hate comment that might elicit a

response from an Asante.

Why am I asking the Asantes to police Asantes and Ewes to police Ewes? Because

if somebody like Daniel Pryce tells an Ewe to stop his or her hateful comment,

it will be more effective than an Asante like OYOKOBA telling an Ewe to stop

insulting an Asante because it would be construed as an Asante man trying to

muffle the voice of an Ewe. The same thing should be done by an Asante stopping

an Asante person from starting any insult against an Ewe person.

SECOND, STOP BEING 'HOUDINIS'.

We have to refrain from reading into other people posts by guessing what a

comment means when it is not in the post, example, If I am criticising Rawlings

for what he has done or said, one should not assume that I am criticising him

because he is an Ewe man and I am Asante, and therefore my criticism is solely

based on ethnocentrism, at the same token, Asantes also should refrain from

accusing Ewes of ethnocentrism because they are critising Kuffour unless because

of what Kuffour did, the commentator takes it upon himself or herself to condemn

Asantes as a whole.

THIRD, INAPPROPRIATE MONIKERS

We should be sensitive to the monikers we use in this forum. Some of the

monikers in this forum do not foster a friendly atmosphere. Some of us with

'short fuses' respond to these monikers with biases even if the person has

something intelligent to contribute because of the moniker the one is

using.Example of some of these Monikers like TROKOSI EKORO KOLA, trokosi sheep

fucker, sakawa Monkey Sarpong which was directed at me before I also adopted

those names to counter Kola should be a thing of the past. In this regard, I

offer an olive branch to KOLA that, I will discontinue using those monikers,

regardless of what he intends to do.

FOURTH, POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS.

Again, the fact that an Asante is supporting NPP or an Ewe supporting NDC does

not mean these people are tribalists. I for instance will not vote for any

Asante Presidential candidate on NDC ticket regardless of how marvelous his

academic or political achiements are, but will vote for an Ewe Presidential

candidate on NPP ticket with less stellar credentials than the Asante man on

NDC. My point is that, it is not because NDC is perceived to be an Ewe party

that I don't like that party, the way that party came about, my conscience will

not allow me to support it no matter what 'Angel' they put up as their

Presidential candidate. With me, it's all about the Party and not the

individual. You can disagree with me on this position without insults and I

will accept it because it is what it is. I just don't believe in the NDC

socialistic Philosophy not because the founder is an Ewe. To me, NDC is an

illegal entity which came about through the blood money Rawlings seized from

some hardworking Ghanaians.

FIFTH, THE HIJACKERS.

Hijackers in this article is referring to those commentators who are usually the

first to make comments on an article or news report and instead of commenting on

the issue at hand, start their posts with tribal insults. Three commentators in

this forum are notorious on this regard, NANA O, Terribly Specific and Kola,

London Proper. If we really want to clean this forum of tribal insults, these

three people have to be always reprimanded when they digress on the issue at

hand and embark on tribal insults.

This forum is notorious of finding problems and after people have puffed and

howled, nothing is done to alleviate or at least reduce the problem. Daniel

Pryce's article recently was not the first time such an article has been

discussed in the forum, many people have written on the same issue, even this

might be the third Mr Pryce article on the same issue. Many people promised to

turn a new leaf and stop their insults and tribal postings. I have been

observing those who made a solemn promise to refrain from hatred posts and so

far only Voodoo ziebieso seems to be holding his end of the bargain, well done,

Voodoo.

There are more things we can do to clean the forum and make it friendly for

others who have avoided it to participate in the discourse here and suggestions

as to how to sanitize this forum is welcome. LET'S MAKE MEANINGFUL CHANGES IN

THE YEAR AHEAD, FORUMERS, HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYBODY.

Justice Sarpong

Houston, Texas