BY SAMUEL ADJEI SARFO.
Three years ago, a commentator on ghanaweb posed this question directly to me, “Mr. Sarfo, can you sincerely tell me that in your most private moments, you have never entertained the feeling that there is a tribe that is inferior to yours?” That question is similar to one a friend asked me on corruption. He wanted to know whether I had ever engaged in any corrupt activity in my home country.
Usually, when people have a certain shortcoming, they assume that others have the same defect and conclude that with these others, evil intent always lies dormant, waiting for opportunity to strike. To such people everybody suffers from tribalism, nepotism and moral turpitude, and that given the right chance and opportunity these weaknesses will be unleashed. They define the character of the world’s people through the parochial purview of their particularized weaknesses.
This parochial purview has some credibility here on ghanaweb because since the Asantehene and Takyimanhene’s fracas, the nadir to which otherwise respected people have sunk in their analysis of the issues at stake has been disappointing. For subliminal tribalists, it has been a field-day for Schadenfreude, the erotic that ensues when we see our enemies fall from greatness. For others, it was a vintage case of “positional opinionism”, a welcome chance to see the truth through the tainted prism of our tribes/parties. Meanwhile, all these writers and commentators waived the flag of objectivity while dabbling in the filth of morbid ethnocentrism and crass partisanship. In the context of the Techiman/Asante feud, ghanaweb offered a rare opportunity for opening the sluice gates of pent-up hatred and old grudges, and readers were regaled with intellectual filth from some of the most morbid albeit educated minds in Ghana. And in pattern with the journalistic malaise, some even called for the excision of a whole tribe from the map of Ghana; others called for the banishment of other groups while others have simply distorted histories and cultures to serve a moribund tribal vendetta.
In the midst of all these, I thought I must remind readers of certain salient beliefs I hold:
Before 1957, the nation Ghana did not exist. Like every nation in Africa, it was crafted out of a collection of independent tribal states arbitrarily put together by the foreign conquistadors . This method of crafting nations was nothing new in Africa and world history because the very concept of nationhood necessarily implies a collection of tribes culled/forced from far and wide to become part of a union at different intervals of time. From the beginning of time, the basic logic in nation building is that a core group attracts to itself many other groups to enrich its culture and centers of power. Thus the country Ghana is one nation of many peoples. Minions of ignorance simply betray their lack of understanding when they call for the secession and banishment of others. Without these others, there will be no Ghana.
My second belief is that we are all responsible for the state of our nation, and can therefore not blame any group for our problems today. For example, dishonest intellectuals blame coups in Ghana on a certain tribe. These fail to see that in our political history, there seems to be a constant interplay of ideas between Akans and Ewes whenever any coup succeeds . Thus the coup that overthrew Nkrumah in 1966 found architects in Afrifa and Kotoka, whereas the coup that overthrew Akuffo in 1979 found its architects in Boakye Djan and Rawlings. Key figures in Acheampong’s 1972 coup that toppled Busia’s regime and that of Rawlings’ 1981 coup that toppled Limann show the same pattern of the union of ideas between Ewes and Akans in the making of all coups. Whatever the outcome of these coups, both tribes share the glory and calumny emanating therefrom. Pseudo intellectuals dissemble our history when they pretend that any one tribe is responsible for coups in Ghana.
My third belief is that it is too easy to demonize others whenever we allude to them in generalized term. Whenever we think of a group in the abstract, we make it easier on ourselves to wish death and genocide on that group. The best way to consider any outsiders to our tribe is to think of them in individualized and particularized terms. Think of any Ewe or Akan you personally know and ask yourself whether you truly hate that person to the point where you will wish him dead. Your ignorance will come to the limelight when you discover that you do not have any such enemies in your life. Why then do we write bitter things against each other as if we are ready to slit their throats?
My fourth belief is that the best way to assess the quality of a tribe is through its best citizens, not through its worst. We betray our illiteracy when we make individuals the trope of the tribe and cut the tribe down by the foolish action of those individuals. Rawlings does not represent Ewes, and Kufuor does not represent Akans. Ewes and Asantes are represented by the best of their cultural heritage and the most creative of their citizenry, wherever those may be found.
My fifth point is in regard to the phenomenon of intrinsic and subconscious desire which we unconsciously share. It will surprise the hardest core tribalist here that in the recesses of their hearts, there is a deep groundswell of desire for peace and harmony amongst the tribes. Indeed, there may lurk within many hearts a sublime and subconscious admiration for those they love to hate. If in doubt, study the comments under any truly objective article seeking to bring unity and harmony amongst the tribes. Study the respect for those who initiate constructive dialogue in this theater of cacophony! Our souls are yearning for peace and harmony on ghanaweb, but we are simply rejecting the heart-beat of our common wishes. That is why we are full of praise and respect for those that feed this thirst of peace and harmony and reject the harmful hatred of the tainted ones. We must not be among the tainted ones.
My final belief is that we are all wearing masks on ghanaweb, that is why we can easily write callow and callous texts and get away with it. The extent of our responsibility for what we write here vanishes with the daily change of variant monikers. If we are merely able to say what we say because of our variegated masks, we are archetypal cowards. The test of the integrity of our thoughts is that when we think them privately, we can, and are able to state them openly. If, under the color of our monikers, we disgorge filth and mouth discord, we are the chiefs of all cowards and the most ignoble of all hypocrites. I find it disappointing when our innermost reasoning passes through the mesh of bigotry and disguises itself as history or philosophical thought. We have no compunction for these bizarre illogic perhaps because no-one will ever find out that we are responsible for the trash we write here. We are a nation of good and intelligent people. There are many here who have done nothing to shock the national consciousness as the renegade siblings. There are those that look on the nation with pride and eschew corruption wherever it is found. There are those who are free from moral turpitude and maniacal jabber. There are those who want the nation to rise as one, and her people united in spirit, marching forward to build prosperity for posterity…..These are the silent ones by whose noble character the tribes must be properly defined. These are the true Ghanaians; these are the true humans; these are our true siblings. In their most private moments, they have never entertained the thought that there is a tribe that is inferior to theirs. In their subliminal thoughts, they have never entertained any ethnocentric notions. They are not waiting for excuses to spill ethnocentric chatter.
The reward of the genuine Ghanaian intellectual is that his thoughts will be recalled and quoted by generations to come; his ideas will be sustained and his views revered by those yet unborn. Out there, there are many of these genuine Ghanaian intellectuals ready to take back the discourse from the hate-mongers on ghanaweb. They are not Akans; they are not Ewes; they are not Northerners. They are true Ghanaians.
Samuel Adjei Sarfo studies Law in Houston, Texas. You can reach him at sarfadjei@yahoo.com.
