Ghanaians are fervently requested to approach this write-up with clear conscience; keeping an open mind. I do not intend to inflame tribal embers but to tell the truth as it should. I hope to find lasting solutions by conveying the reality of the situation to all Ghanaians that if left unchecked, it will have far worse disastrous repercussions on the society in general than what we are witnessing today.
Prior to discussing the Akan issue, I will cite three distinctive case scenarios to buttress my contention. First, during the cold war (the period of tension between the Russians and the Americans), the Russians were alleged to have developed a chemical agent that had the potency to exterminate the entire minority tribe of the world if employed. The chemical agent may have been destroyed after the détente between both nations with the subsequent destruction of armaments and reduction in their nuclear arsenals. Who could that minority tribe be?
Secondly, a generalized racist slur directed at Black people e.g. all black people are say, fools. Is there any window of exclusion for any black person?
Thirdly, the world is currently experiencing what has come to be termed as "The Arab Spring", where the citizenries of the Arab nations are vehemently extricating themselves from the shackles of slavery, oppression and dictatorial rule or regimes. It started from Tunisia, then Yemen, Egypt, Bahrain (helped by Saudi Arabia to quell the rebellion), Libya and now in Syria.
The Arab countries governed by Kings are equally as worse as those ruled by dictators. Human rights in the kingdoms are equally suppressed as in the autocratic or dictatorial regimes where their citizens have embarked on pro-democracy warfare, supported by the Western world. These have so far culminated in the overthrow and execution of some leaders.
Those Arab countries or to be more specific, Arab leaders, under the American protagonism feel they are untouchable and will forever remain so. They are helping to stoke fire in other Arab countries. I see these people as complete jokers since the air of democracy started in other Arab countries will eventually blow across all others without their protagonists able to help them when the time comes. That will prove how myopic they have been all this while helping the citizenries of their neighbouring countries to not only get rid of their leaders but also, to execute them, e.g. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.
Now on the Akan issue, I pray they draw a lesson from any or all of the above briefly narrated case situations. It has been the systematic agenda or objective of the PNDC/NDC regimes to render the Akans, especially the Ashantis, less powerful if not completely useless through oppression and institutionalized tribalism directed at turning all the other tribes against them. Since the early days of former President J. J. Rawlings, in power, the Akans, especially the Ashantis, have suffered various atrocities and subjugations. I have already written extensively about this and therefore there is no need revisiting the details.
Rawlings in his coup days exterminated more Ashantis than from any other tribe. He bore personal hatred against the Ashantis because they have always been industrious and very successful. Did I not hear Rawlings once castigate his own Ewe people as being lazy fools? Did he not say, "the Ashantis have taken the lead" and from that time sought to bring the Akans down?
Rawlings and his regimes sought to collapse all the businesses of the Akans. He confiscated the late B. A. Mensah's factory (International Tobacco Ghana Ltd - ITG) for no apparent reason. He did not owe any money in unpaid taxes as feloniously bandied about by Rawlings and Paul Victor Obeng of complicit character. It was all about tax rebate granted to him by the Supreme Military Council (SMC 1) regime for his then infant industry to find her feet. When Rawlings and his evil-minded cohorts insisted it was tax evasion, Mr B. A. Mensah decided to pay it twofold, or threefold but the Inland revenue refused the cheque payment made to them saying, "order from above" obliges them not to take any money from him but to seize the company.
Same Rawlings seized the Tata Brewery (Beer) factory belonging to Mr. Siaw, an Akan from Kwahu. Mr. Siaw escaped to Liberia to open the biggest brewery factory in West Africa in that country. Rawlings shamelessly went on air advising Ghanaians not to patronise Mr. Appiah Menka's "apino" soap. What an aimless and unintelligent President he was! His intention was to destroy the Akan wealth hardly envisaging the dire consequences of his short-sighted actions on Ghana as a whole. A mischievous person indeed!
I have written about how the Akans, especially the Ashantis are segregated, sidelined at workplaces, and ignored when it comes to promotions or recruitment of personnel into the army and the police forces and into other public sector jobs. I am not interested in the narration of the entire of all these today but about how within the Akans or the Ashantis, there are certain people aiding and abetting the other minority tribes to suppress or to render the Akans nonentities.
For the sake of acquiring commensurate wealth to quench their insatiable greed, people like P. V. Obeng, Yaw Boateng Gyan, Kobby Acheampong, Yaw Adu-Asare, Johnson Asiedu Nketia (doubtful he is an Akan), Dr Tony Aidoo and a horde of others have persistently been assisting the obnoxious PNDC/NDC governments to subjugate or exterminate their own tribesmen.
Have the NDC Akan accomplices forgotten that they will one day be exterminated once their masters get deeply set to execute their heinous acts or plans about the Akans or the Ashantis? As an insult or an evil intention directed at the black race does not exclude one for the fact of being a wealthy Blackman, so does any intention to oppress the Akans. As the Russian chemical agent would not have spared any member of the presumed minority tribe for being rich, famous or of noble birth, so will be the desire of the minority tribes to reduce the Akan tribe to "Mr/ Mrs. Nobodies". Their Akan agents will be caught in condemnation as long as they are Akans. Therefore they must be wary of their complicit actions. It is only a fool that will seek the destruction of his very tribal roots for ludicrous reasons as indicated above.
I have to end here with the promise to come back to continue it later. The longer it is the more boring people find it reading to appreciate the seriousness or the essence of the message. The Akans are themselves destroying their power base born out of greed and lack of farsightedness although unconsciously.
"Cheat spider, you cheat yourself" The goat that pulls itself along its owner's newly painted wall thinks it is hurting its master by destroying the wall without realising it is rather harming itself in the process - shearing its wool.
Rockson Adofo
