The words of a journalist and threat of death!

I listened twice to the tape of statements made by Afia Pokua as a media personality and as a mature person in modern Ghana, I am ashamed in this day and age to see Chiefs in Ashanti, all of them educated, would resort to rebuking this journalist and treating her as if she had thrown acid on the Asantehene! Come on! Our brother Ashantis. I expect better.

I lived my early teenage years in Kumasi at Prempeh College and shared dorms and classrooms with Ashanti’s and people from all tribes in Ghana, including some royals. Thanks to Kwame Nkrumah we know we are one people!

This was 1960-68, and there is nowhere in this short history of Ghana where tradition has ruled over the Ghana constitution and a person’s opinions of even the President of Ghana has led to these threats and assaults on another citizen for somebody to even threaten her with death! Come on!

I am a great admirer of Ashanti’s, but for God’s sake some of us have competed in our lives as black men against Americans, Japanese, Indians, Europeans and Chinese as well as other Africans, and in 56 years nobody has threatened us with death because of what we have said! No! Not even in American courts where some of them have faced policemen as prosecuting witnesses!

For God’s sake let us choose to be modern and civilized or else go to extinction! This story is embarrassing!

As one Chief rightly pointed out we are not in the olden days where chiefs used traditional excuses to commit murder and ruined the reputation of the whole nation. Where did the word “savages” come from?

I strongly believe that the Asantehene knows who he is, and is aware of his own leadership influence and powers and limits, and the respect accorded him. I am also from Abetifi Kwahu and having crossed the Biblical three-score and ten in age, I believe I have a right to offer an opinion to my nation to recommend for the Chiefs and paramount chiefs to push for the amendment of the 1992 Constitution to allow them to participate more in our nation’s management at the town and districts levels.

I was a guest speaker at the National House of Chiefs convention in Koforidua one time and gained a lot more respect from our chiefs of today! They are as educated as we are! No reason to fall back to the old days!

Ghana stands a better chance of town and district development by making our Chiefs part of the management of our town/metro and district councils.

It is too late to go back to pre-colonial days of killing people for mere verbal utterances some people or even Chiefs feel is offensive when no crime has been committed. No!

I believe we should decide to live as modern men and women of today and write down our Laws, and manage our towns and cities in clean and respectable ways for Tourists to admire and learn how we have built our nation. We should stop using emotions of tradition, but rather deep strategic planning of our towns and strive to manage our resources, use our trained skilled people scattered globally to compete favourably with the rest of the people in the world.

That gives respect across the board!

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Dr. Kwaku A. Danso, M.Eng, PhD (OM Leadership) Founding President, Ghana Leadership Union (GLU), California, USA.