Which ethnic group is more hospitable in this country?

I felt very reluctant writing this article when the idea was first conceived due to its controversial nature and the divisive tendencies it will seem to portray. However, I was compelled to express my view on the above topic due to the persistent falsehood that is being perpetrated by a particular group of people in this country.

From time immemorial, Ghanaians have learnt to coexist and tolerated each other irrespective of our ethnic background, political differences and religious believes. We have again tried as much as possible not to allow the local football teams we support to divide us. This is the reason why it is common both in Accra and Kumasi for supporters of both Hearts and Kotoko to hire a vehicle from their places of abode to the stadium and after the football match, irrespective of who wins; they board the same vehicle back home.

When I was living in Kumasi, our brothers from the Ashanti region claims that they are the most hospitable people in this country and the reasons they gave which I consider flimsy were that:

1) They have given our brothers from the Volta region a place to live in Kumasi and have even named the place Anloga.

2) They have again given our brothers from the central region (the Fantes) a place to live and have named the place Fante Newtown and

3) They have Sabon Zongo in Kumasi which is the dwelling place for our brothers from the northern regions and have allowed them to even elect their chief. The above reasons were what necessitated the writing of this article.

Let us educate ourselves a bit at this juncture. Our brothers from the Greater Accra region (the Gas) called the voltarians ‘Ayigbe me’ (the Ewes) or ‘Ayigbenyo’ (an Ewe). So, in Accra, Ayigbe town is equivalent to Anloga in Kumasi. Unlike Kumasi where there is only one Anloga at Ofori krom, there are many Ayigbe towns in Accra. For the sake of a reader who doesn’t know much about Accra, the area opposite the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) along the mortuary road from the Obetsebi Lamptey circle at Abossey-Okai is called Ayigbe Town.There is another Ayigbe Town at Bubuashie and one also along the main Kasoa road closer to the Densu river. Adjacent to Ayigbe town at Abossey-Okai is Sabon Zongo which is also equivalent to the one in Kumasi. So, should the people of Accra also claimed to be more hospitable than the rest of Ghanaians because of the above reasons? If you meet somebody in Tema who speaks fluent Fante and you enqire from him where he learnt the language especially when he is not a Fante, it is likely for him to tell you he is a Community 2 “guy”. Community 2 from time immemorial has been dominated by the Fantes and for that matter the Fante language is predominantly spoken in that area. So, because the Tema Mantse has not named comm. 2 as Fante new town and for that singular reason the Gas are not hospitable? I beg to differ.

I stand to be corrected but I believe that apart from the Ashanti region, there are more Ashantis in Accra than any part of the country and the same can be said of our brothers from the other regions. If the above assertion is true, should the Gas then say they have accommodated Ghanaians from every part of the country and for that matter they are the most hospitable people in this country?

Long before I left Accra to Kumasi, I have some friends from the Ashanti region who always claimed that unlike Accra where some unscrupulous landlords makes unnecessary financial demands from their tenants and threaten to eject them should they (the tenants) failed to adhered to their request, a tenant in Kumasi according to my friends is allowed to live peacefully and as long as he wish without any pressure or ejection threat from the landlord. This assertion is quite difference from what I experience at Gyinyase (a suburb of Kumasi) where I rented my first apartment. The care taker/ landlady, after staying in my apartment for just three weeks, told me she has increase the rent advance by 25% at a time when my tenancy is nowhere near expiration. At Atonsu (also a suburb of Kumasi) where I rented my second apartment, the landlord increase our rent by 66% when our rent advance was not expired and when his decision was questioned, the only reason he gave was that the price of cement has been increase. Why should an increment of cement price affect a building which was build so many years ago? Readers, is it fair for one to say that per this singular act from this landlord and landlady Ashantis are Xenophobic?

An Ashanti colleague who apparently has the same believe like the rest of his people, after touting their hospitability, added that recently when the carpenters at Anloga junction(who are mostly Ewes) were ejected to enable the construction a road, because Ashantis are hospitable, they were relocated to Sokoban (a suburb of Kumasi). Readers, the purpose of this article is not to intentionally close my eyes on any good thing done by anybody but to prove that if all that has been mentioned above makes one a hospitable person/people, then there are equally other good things which other ethnic groups outside Ashanti has done which also deserves commendation. For instance when the sellers adjacent the Novotel hotel and opposite the Kinbu Senior High School in central Accra were ejected, they were relocated to what is now called the Hawkers market situated closer to the Odaw lagoon at Nkrumah circle. Most of these sellers were Akans. So, what should the Gas also say? Again, the occupants of old Fadama which is popularly called Sodom & Gomorrah in Accra (who are mostly Northerners), when ordered to vacate the place to pave way for the dredging of the Korle Lagoon, were offered a place at Adjen Kotoku to relocate. They are still occupying the place because of lack of political will to eject them. The occupants of Kokompe at Darkuman have also been offered a land along the Kasoa road to relocate. In recent time when the sellers at Kasoa were ejected, they were also relocated where we now called new market. So, should the people of Central region be applauded for offering the market women a place to sell? An Ashanti friend of mine enquire from a man whether he is an Ashanti after hearing him speak a fluent Twi. The man answered yes to his question. He then asked him the part of Ashanti he comes from and the man said Konongo. He told the man he is not a proper Ashanti and when the man wanted to know why he said that, my friend’s answer is that people from Konongo are Ashanti-Akyims and for that matter are not proper Ashantis. What a discriminatory remark!

I lived in Accra so many years before I left to Dunkwa in the Upper Denkyira District of the Central Region for my national service and will never hesitate to go back to that place either to live there permanently or for a shorter period because of how I was treated by the indigenes. I later stayed in Kumasi for 7 years and like Dunkwa, will never hesitate to go back. I came back to Accra and now leaving in Tema and has hitherto, never been treated badly by the people of Tema even with all its cosmopolitan nature.

To conclude, readers can make their own judgment but for me I don’t think there is any ethnic group, a tribe or particular group of people from any part of the country who are more hospitable than the others. The English learner’s dictionary defined “ hospitable” as friendly, welcoming and generous to guests or strangers. The average Ghanaian is a hospitable person and this assertion was confirmed when in November, 1999 the Queen of England visited Ghana. She said “the last time I visited Ghana was 39 years ago and everything in Ghana has changed except your hospitality”. She said this in the presence of former President Rawlings (an Ewe), the then vice president Prof Evans Atta Mills (a Fante), Joshua Alabi, the then Greater Accra Regional minister (a Ga), P.V. Obeng the then presidential advicer, (an Ashanti) and other government officials from all over the country. Think about this!

Joshua Mensah

Tema.

(mjosuah@yahoo.com) 12/05/14