OSARFO MARFO IS RIGHT ON MAHAMAS INTENTIONAL SIDELINE OF AUTOCHTHONOUS AKANS!!
I have listened to the tape played, and I honestly think that Osafo Marfo was making an emphatic frank statement.
The only issue is that, his f ... read full comment
OSARFO MARFO IS RIGHT ON MAHAMAS INTENTIONAL SIDELINE OF AUTOCHTHONOUS AKANS!!
I have listened to the tape played, and I honestly think that Osafo Marfo was making an emphatic frank statement.
The only issue is that, his failure to go straight in stating the obvious fact, to point out the barefaced fact happening in this Mahama-led administration is the problem.
What I believe Osarfo Marfo intended to speak about which didn't come out clearly and understandably was the real fact happening in Ghana in this govt, and I believe must be spoken about.
This in the sense that, during Kufuor's administration, the NDC newspapers listed the names of all the top officials in the gov't bearing Akan names, whether the person was from Volta region with Akan name or from western, Eastern, but as long as the person bears an Akan name, the Kufuor's administration was finally christened as Akans gov't, giving credence to their old weak-minded argument that the NPP is an akan/Ashanti party.
They even pointed out that Kufuor intentionally failed to fill somebody from Upper East/West in his administration, arguing Kufour claims there was no qualified person from that region. Very tribal argument, but that was allowed to stick in the minds of Ghanaians.
What I understand Osafo Marfo wanted to point out, which is a fact in NDC/Mahama administration is that, people from the indigenous Akan regions have been sidelined/neglected or not filled at-all in any of the top positions in this administration. That is a fact and it's unquestionable. This trend is downright traceable from Atta Mills to Mahama's govt. The question is, who then are occupying the top positions in the NDC/Mills/ Mahama administrations? Aren't only most people from the three northern regions and those from Volta region? Is this not noticeable fact in these administrations, and the NPP should not make politics out of it? Why not?
This is a conspicuous fact, which if it is the NDC, they would have made huge political capital out of it as they did when NPP was in power.
Yes, I understand it bothers on tribalism and must be played carefully, which in my opinion, Osarfo Marfo played it carefully, but it is also a gospel true that this has been happening, which NPP should have made or must also make political issue about it. Nothing wrong with that.
To be frank, at that closed door meeting, am sure Osarfo Marfo wanted to sensitise the people in those areas to be extremely angry at John Mahama for his purposely neglect of them by mere reason of the fact that they are autochthonous Akans. He added that, even though, those regions provide most of the country's highest resources which the government uses to manage us all. This argument is simply undeniable fact.
At least I recall that, recently, the NDC/Mahama govt was forced to hearken to the agitations made by some NDC youths supported by some opinion leaders in Western region that, the Minister of Energy MUST come from their region because the Ghana Jubilee Oil field is on their land. This, the Mahama govt paid attention to that and appointed somebody from that region as the Minister for Energy. Was this not regional and tribal political decision?
The question again is, can all the other regions, particularly the Ashanti, Esatern, BA regions demand that same because their regions suffice the nation with all the other major resources and for that matter, they should also be given the ministers for Lands, Mines, Agriculture and Forestry, since they produce Gold, Timber, Manganese, Cocoa and even most of local food stuff? Wouldn't it be fair on them regions too to have ministers solely coming from there?
Again, some members in the NDC/Mills/Mahama gov't told Ex-Prez Kufour point blank that, he is NOT Ga, and not from greater Accra and for that matter Kufour can't own office in Accra, simply bcos he's not Ga native, therefore if he has ended his tenure as President of Ghana, he should go back to Kumasi.
With this, Solomon Nkansah, the current NDC Communications Officer, on Peace FM 6 O'clock news bulletin, opined openly that, Kufour should rather think of having his office in Kumasi bcos that's where he hails from, adding if Kufour dares them to have his office in Accra Ridge, they will uproot him like Cassava from his office, all because Kufour is Not Ga (y3 b3tu Kufuor s3 bankye), that was his comment. This unfortunate situation happened in Ghana Accra, which even infuriated some NPP youths in Western/Eastern regions that they would block all rooads, they wouldn't allow any Timber car to pass carrying any timber to Accra.
Again, under the NDC Prez Atta Mills, their members openly argued that they do NOT want any Akan name to be put on any national asset in greater Accra. With these threats, they even pressed vehemently that the name Ohene Djan, the man from Aburi who's name was put on Accra Sports Stadium should be changed just because the name sounds too Akan.
The word "Akwaaba" written in Akan language to welcome people arriving at the Kotoka International Airport, a Chief in Accra-La, also openly asked that the word Akwaaba should be scrapped and replace with a Ga translated word to welcome people at the airport, to reflect them, saying the twi language has become too popular. The La chief added that the Airport is on their Land therefore the welcoming language should be in Ga, he never complained about "You Are Welcome" which is also written in English language there. The chief also never complain about the name "Kotoka", to be changed. The question is why? Wasn't it interesting?
JJ Rawlings who has had his office peacefully in Accra Ridge all these while was never asked to go back to Ho in the Volta because he's also not Ga. Why Kufour alone?
That is the core issue which need to be tackled than this hypocritical attitude shown towards Osarfo Marfo's comment. What did he say wrong?
This same John Mahama openly, Not in private, told Northerners that they should vote for him because he's the one from North during the 2012 campaign, Mahama even added that, "if the NPP want votes from the Northern region, they should think of choosing somebody from the North for the general elections. Wasn't that serious tribal comment?
John Jerry Rawlings also openly told the people of Volta region that, "they should never vote for these NPP people because they are our (voltarians) enemies". What was this comment about, is it not tribal comment? Did any one hear NDC members condemning Rawlings?
The late Atta Mills also openly told the pple in Central region that, he Atta Mills is from Central region, they should vote for him because "Adze wofie a oye." Is this comment different from what John Mahama said in the North during the campaign?
E.T Mensah said on NDC campaign platform that, if any Ga native votes for NPP, it means you are like a dead sheep (odwan a wawuo na ob3to aba ama NPP on the Ga land), that was E.T Mensah's comment. Was he condemned by NDC members?
A chief in Volta region is able to stand at an open gathering to promise Mahama that, you know, at last elections, I promised to deliver 100,000 votes for you, but I managed only 80,000, but I can promise you again that at the next elections I will get more than the 100,000 I promised earlier. What a lot of naaansense promise!! Did you hear any NDC member or any civil opinion leader condemning this senseless promise by the chief?
These and more are the tribal cards the NDC has played on NPP in Ghana, but when fortunately or unfortunately, one of our own member in NPP makes a similar statement or anything relating to tribal, then that is when you see our own members in NPP castigating and condemning tribal politics in Ghana, making our own resign to himself for making tribal related comment. Why, are we the only holy political party in Ghana?
Our attitude shows that, the NDC have the right to openly play tribal politics but the NPP have absolutely No right, we can't! ... Why?
This is already part of our body politics in Ghana, the NPP should not play any holier than thou attitude and think of winning any general elections in Ghana. Until we see that the NDC members begin to see that it is Not a good practice, then it must be played by all. Simple!!
It baffles me that, some NPP Akan members are able to openly confront their own king's and chiefs when they play politics or when they are wrong, but same NPP members from other tribes would never like to make any comment about their tribe opinion leaders, even when they are wrong. The question is WHY? What a hypocrisy!!
Osarfo Marfo meant good, we shouldn't chastise him. He was speaking to energise those people in the area to work hard and to be extremely angry for power and at John Mahama, for purposely neglecting them because of their Akans congenital.
Does it mean that any time a tribal comment is made by our leaders, even in closet, somebody there should record it and play it out, for us to chastise our own..., Why?
Opanyin Osarfo Marfo, waka a waka, nekaa nono. Simple.
Braveman 9 years ago
chase these crazy bigots out of the town
chase these crazy bigots out of the town
narkey 9 years ago
this comment shows how ignorant and shallow minded u are
this comment shows how ignorant and shallow minded u are
C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago
Pure balderdash! This attempt to rather brand the victims of "these Akans" bigotry and prejudice as the purveyors of bigotry in Ghana wouldn't even wash with foreigners who come to read the nonsense on Ghanaweb.
Of course, ... read full comment
Pure balderdash! This attempt to rather brand the victims of "these Akans" bigotry and prejudice as the purveyors of bigotry in Ghana wouldn't even wash with foreigners who come to read the nonsense on Ghanaweb.
Of course, some Asantes are at he core of ethnocentrism in Ghana. That's why even some of their former Akan subjects and vassals who no longer regard themselves as Asantes are often heard appealing to them, just as Osafo Marfo also recently did. And Agyapong wanted them to go and kill Ewes and Gas. If they weren't familiar with the sentiments of "these Asantes", they wouldn't be singling them out to execute their vile plans. It is in recognition of this fact that Awooonor wrote Akan/Asante in his famous book. after all, Asantes were treated differently from other Akans before.
In the next few days or from next week, when I had managed to put my business affairs in proper hands, I shall resume with the long awaited series tackling this issue from pre-colonial times when the Akans used to slave raid on each and other present Ghanaians for the slave markets of the Gold Coast and the Clave Coast. Yes, I shall tell it as it was!
Andy-K
Kobby 9 years ago
The issue brewing is bigotry of Osafo Maafo. The last I check he is not an Ashanti. Is an issue of the toothless owing cagey when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. Am Fante and an ardent supporter of the NDC. I think Safo ... read full comment
The issue brewing is bigotry of Osafo Maafo. The last I check he is not an Ashanti. Is an issue of the toothless owing cagey when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. Am Fante and an ardent supporter of the NDC. I think Safo mis-spoke.
Joe Canada 9 years ago
Who said Ashanti is synonym to Akan?. Fool Akan like you has given some tribalist Ewe's to continue their hatred for Akans. You and your house hold and even your entire town can support NDC, nobody gives a shit. Yes Osafo Mar ... read full comment
Who said Ashanti is synonym to Akan?. Fool Akan like you has given some tribalist Ewe's to continue their hatred for Akans. You and your house hold and even your entire town can support NDC, nobody gives a shit. Yes Osafo Marfo is not an Ashanti, that should tell you why we are saying NDC is bullshitting. Why would Osafo Marfo tell those present that they have the liberty to discuss that particular statement with Ashanti's but not the Akyems, Brong, Fanti's or any Akan tribe. I believe you enjoy reading or hearing all negative comment and insult about Ashanti's any time somebody makes stupid tribal comment, even though the person may not be an Ashanti. Go ahead you have the right to support any party you want but you are dumb and stupid to support propaganda campaign targeting a particular tribe. After all we know what happened to Arkah and Mills and the days of that ugly face vice president are numbered.
Close Observer 9 years ago
VOTE JOHN MAHAMA OUT IN 2016. HE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING. HE IS ONLY CELEBRATING HIS POSITION. WE NEED A THINKER TO LEAD US.
''We have been vice presidents for far too long, it is time you make ONE OF YOUR OWN presi ... read full comment
VOTE JOHN MAHAMA OUT IN 2016. HE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING. HE IS ONLY CELEBRATING HIS POSITION. WE NEED A THINKER TO LEAD US.
''We have been vice presidents for far too long, it is time you make ONE OF YOUR OWN president.'' - John Mahama.
WHAT ARE THE REST OF US TO JOHN MAHAMA?
VOTE THIS YOUNG MAN OUT IN 2016 BEFORE HE DESTROYS GHANA WITH TRIBAL DISCRIMINATION, ESPECIALLY ANTI-AKAN POLITICS.
This is a call from A SENSIBLE GA.
WE ARE ONE PEOPLE. (GB3M3I KOME DZIWO)
Uncle Al 9 years ago
Childish and stupid, no substance. Pure garbage. .
Childish and stupid, no substance. Pure garbage. .
Kirk Morris 9 years ago
So call Uncle Al, are u hurt? Challenge article with a re-joinder. It sound childish and stupid cos it's hurts and prickles your mind. A lot of sense, lessons to grasp.
It seem pure garbage to u but article is full wisdom ... read full comment
So call Uncle Al, are u hurt? Challenge article with a re-joinder. It sound childish and stupid cos it's hurts and prickles your mind. A lot of sense, lessons to grasp.
It seem pure garbage to u but article is full wisdom.
Maybe you are a propagandist and preach bigotry hence the worry.
Read with purpose and you will see thro. Be not blind to truth.
Charles Agbenu 9 years ago
Your observation is right. We all know the agelong games played by Ewes for political advantage against Ashantis. I am an Ewe and Iknow the Ewe funny games--the modus operandi. The Ewes play the victims to get sympathy from o ... read full comment
Your observation is right. We all know the agelong games played by Ewes for political advantage against Ashantis. I am an Ewe and Iknow the Ewe funny games--the modus operandi. The Ewes play the victims to get sympathy from other tribes. The Ewes traditionally ar jealous and envy Ashantis because of their influence and rich history. The Ewes think if they are able to subdue Ashantis then the other tribes are sort of conquered. The Ewes try to deny persons of Ashanti origin places in the army, police , civil saervice. Dr Kofi Awonnor espoused this point in his damnable books. The Ewes are comfortable with Northerners who then think they can subdue but in reality they despise them. They look down of Northeners and they hide this fact. Ametor quarmyne, Dr Bokor, Okujeto, Foof Kwete, De So Soo, Rich Quaeshigsah should shut up since we wont allow Ewe values to be dragged in the mud again in the name of 2016 politics. They will be exposed.
Kwame 9 years ago
Charles Agbenu no Ewhe with head on his neck will vote for a political party that member of parliament call on other people to kill Ewhes and Ghas with knives and pestles. No Ewhe in his right frame of mind will vote again fo ... read full comment
Charles Agbenu no Ewhe with head on his neck will vote for a political party that member of parliament call on other people to kill Ewhes and Ghas with knives and pestles. No Ewhe in his right frame of mind will vote again for a party that when in power dismiss Ewhes from both civil and public service. It is only an Ewhe whose head has cut tread who will vote for the New Patriotic Party that voes to expel all Ewhes from Ghana anytime it comes to office. Whenever the New Patriotic Party comes to power it sells the birth right of not only Ghana, but as well as that of Akans.
When a member of the executive of the party Osafo Marfo was said that all the natural resources of Ghana are found in Akan speaking areas, he forget to tell the people a the meeting that when NPP comes to power it sells the birth right of Akans. It is on record that it was a Gha, Tetteh Quarshie who brought cocoa to Ghana. Tsatsu Tsikata found crude oil at Cape Three Points. Kofi Ameko a native of Peki and Kojo Tsikata continued with the African liberation war from where Kwame Nkrumah left it off. These people have nothing to be proud of apart from living in servitude in tranquility.
Kwame 9 years ago
Kwame Nkrumah build the Adomi and Sogakofe bridges, started the construction of the Circle Overpass in 1966 before he was overthrown. He was overthrown in 1966 by the imperialist who promised that they will make Ghana heaven ... read full comment
Kwame Nkrumah build the Adomi and Sogakofe bridges, started the construction of the Circle Overpass in 1966 before he was overthrown. He was overthrown in 1966 by the imperialist who promised that they will make Ghana heaven on Earth and claim that Nkrumah did not do justice on earth. They deprived us of the ability to produce electricity power, from all the available sources on earth. Took from us the ability to produce food and industrial products. Thus Bob Marley's song is directed towards the imperialist. Even our natural resources just like Marley's corn that was eaten are all in their hands.
C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago
Just fuck off! You are not an Ewe and everybody knows that. An Ewe who can't even spell Ewe names properly????
Now, read this and tell me who are the bigots and always attacking the other?
WILFULLY BLIND OR JUST PLAIN I ... read full comment
Just fuck off! You are not an Ewe and everybody knows that. An Ewe who can't even spell Ewe names properly????
Now, read this and tell me who are the bigots and always attacking the other?
WILFULLY BLIND OR JUST PLAIN IGNORANCE? OR PLAIN STUPID?
I have been amused, and somehow puzzled, at the rumpus being raised about what crazed Agyapong said. But what I find surprising is the virtual hypocrisy and mendacious attempts to brush this issue under the carpet by some linked to the NPP as just a one off aberration. These people pretend or do not seem to know that Agyapong’s threats were not the first admonishing the killing of Ewes, something the readily available facts betray. Facts I have been referring to from 1994 in cyberspace, recounting my own personal experiences with some of those advocates of Ewe killers in Nigeria during the early years of the PNDC. Of course, I have not as yet told the full story. But as Fela said, “I no kpata de finish!”
Hmm! As I found out when I was insulted “basabasa” by a man who turned out to be one of my many uncles, (when I apparently misspoke on the hike in petrol prices in the 1993 budget, on a bus from Anloga to Dzelukope in 1993), for being mistaken for a Quashiga hireling who had joined the “Eblutorwo” (Akans) preparing to come and kill them, my people back home were fully prepared and waiting for the quislings to start the attacks; I was assured. That was long before anyone heard of Justice Kpega as a political pundit! Phew! Me, a die-hard Nkrumaist in league with NPP assassins, to go and kill my fellow Anlo-Ewes? Well, after all, it was in Lome, an Ewe centrepiece city even if many are of Ga-Elmina(Anyi) extraction, that they first congregated and started those lose talks against Ewes, thus forcing most Ewes in exile opposed to the PNDC to abandon the opposition to the PNDC and the anti-Ewe bent it had taken. So, many of us Ewes knew about their evil intents a long time ago, as they were eating our akple and fetri detsi and planning it in our kinsmen homes! Hardly any of them knew that much of the land of Lome is owned by people from Aflao and environs. Ignorant morons come in all shapes, you know. They were lucky no one poisoned them in Lome.:-)
Equally, I have read opponents to Agyapong’s utterances, including some Ewes, made some false and misleading statements, which shows that they are ignorant of the facts of the origins of the ethnic imbroglio in Ghana, despite my persistent efforts and write-ups sketching that sordid history, from the pre-colonial to the post-independence era. I read someone situated in the 1979 elections period Victor Owusu’s scathing attacks on Ewes as “inward-looking” during the exchanges with Dr Agama in Parliament after the Apollo 586 sacking of mostly Ewes by the Busia regime! How come?!
Ignorance and superstition are recognised as key cogs in the vicious cycle of backwardness that is our lot as developing people but the extent most so-called educated Ghanaians wallow in these two inhibiting traits is just stupendous and disheartening!
Many try to claim that Rawlings introduced tribalism into Ghana by employing predominantly Ewes into sensitive public posts, especially the security sector; whereas the same claims of Ewe domination of posts had already been used effectively against Gbedema’s NAL by Busia’s Progress Party during the 1969 General Elections, as I had quoted from Dennis Austen to show but something all grown-ups at the time knew about. It was therefore unfortunate that the late Prof Adu Boahen, as a historian who knew or ought to know better, fed into these fabrications of Ewe dominance, creating his own when he reportedly claimed in a British Council lecture in 1988 that Prof. Akilagpa Sawyerr, a Ga who was given the VC post which he thought he deserved at the time, was an Ewe; and promised in his interview granted to Mahoney and his Africa Watch magazine to redress the presumed ethnic disparity when the NPP was elected into office. To me and many discerning Ewes, especially the Ewe elite, it was all déjà vu. But I was still surprised to find out that some decade long opponents of the PNDC voted for the NDC in 1992! It would not even surprise me if someone who knew Justice Kpegah’s political views very well in the 1980s came out to say that he was an arch-enemy of the PNDC in the Bar Association. I was visiting Ho in 1990 when the people of the VR angrily rejected the no party idea that the PNDC was then lobbying for, effectively halting the campaign for it. Those in BA had already voted yes.
Yes! The NPP had itself to blame for their dismal reception in the VR, as they lost the plot with their tribal agenda reminiscent of the 1969 campaign. In Accra, they lost a lot of Ga support when the same Prof Adu Boahen at a rally, in trying to whip the anti-Ewe venom made that gaffe about Gas being pushed by the PNDC to be sleeping 10 persons to a room, after many of the main speakers had spoken in Twi! In 2000, they (NPP) won simply because of JJ’s unwholesome Swedru Declaration and the disrespectful Obed Asamoah led attempts to impose sitting candidates on their constituents, which nearly got him beaten at Dzelukope/Keta. My own Anlo Constituency elected an independent though linked to the NDC too.
Fact is, I have been aware, just as many other people, since the early 1980s of various threats by some Akans opposed to the PNDC to have Ewes killed and had written about that many, many times on Okyeame and SIL. Perhaps, adding Gas to those to be killed is just the new dimension added by Agyapong, since it appeared, this time, the Gas, in Agyapong's warped mind, had acted in prosecuting the "Ewe agenda" by beating up Ursula on behalf of the Ewes! Well, warped minds think in strange, circular terms!
After all, the threats were so opened and so rampant that one Ewe, the late Dr Kodzi who died here in London in exile, pointed out the "Anlo-Ewes” in his own virulently anti-Rawlings/ PNDC book, "Ghana: Worse than Apartheid S. Africa," as the Ewes to be killed, for being the culprits of the complaints and angst of the Akans! That was long before anyone heard of Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe and his renewed “war” on “Anlo-Ewes,” a war his ancestor joined the Akyem Gen. Dompey to fight in "Krepi" against the Asantes and lost way back in the 1860s and got stranded there, lucky enough not to have been killed like others. That’s another story I had re-told elsewhere and needs a re-visit soon in order to let the populace know what makes bozos like Ahoofe tick. For a man, (I mean Dr Kodzi, not the jerk Ahoofe) who, due to his sterling stewardship when in charge of the Keta Govt Hospital, was much beloved by the so-called Anlo-Ewes, regarded as an hononary Anlo and entrusted with pouring the libation at the Hogbeza celebration of the Noviha group here in London, that was something to write! How could he be sure that the would-be killers would not mistake him for an Anlo man, in spite of the pain he took to identify the other Ewe groups in his book? Well, the failure of the so-called Ewe elite - academic and traditional and the political - to deal rationally with this animus against Ewes is itself an intra-Ewe shambolic intellectual failure I shall deal with by and by. I have right here on my table the rantings of some other Ewes from northern Eweland based in the UK, (Ewedome as we Anlos refer to the area referred to by Europeans as Krepi), against the PNDC and Anlos in particular which I have not even as yet dealt with in my writings.
I must, however, make exception here, as Prof. Kofi Awoonor’s much distorted and maligned prison book (in league with Soyinka’s The Man Died) is probably the first book by a Ghanaian which tried to explain the tribal imbroglio and to point the way forward. His only mistake was that he fell prey to the standard Western simplistic, linear and reductionist methodology of reducing what is without doubt a complex articulation of interests and forces which cut across the ethnic divide with people from all ethnic groups found in both or all contesting camps for political ascendancy, or “hegemony”, as he put it, in Ghana. So, for instance, those who imprisoned him for helping Brig. Kattah to escape to Togo were not only “Akans/Asantes” but included Ewes, Gas, Gonjas, etc., as Kutu’s NRC comprised a cross-section of Ghanaian ethnic groups.
You have to be wilfully blind or totally ignorant of what has been happening in the opposition to the P/NDC camp in order to claim today that you are not aware of talk of and even attempts to foment what would have become an ethnic war in Ghana prior to 1992. I personally had to intervene and quelled a serious fracas on Okyeame between two well known non-Ewes when the “brave Asantes” were queried again by a non-Asante why they could not deal with the apparently Ewe P/NDC which allegedly committed atrocities on they Akans only, I suppose. I bet many can remember J.H Mensah's arrest in America for allegedly attempting to buy weapons to prosecute their “liberation war” to get their country back. It is no wonder the NPP gurus, many of whom shared in those nefarious ideas, talked about it, plotted to carry it, etc., are finding it very hard to distance themselves from this public utterance of it again. How can they desert their fellow journey man, without being double hypocrites? At least, there must be some honour among thieves (and tribal bigots, if we may add).
There are many questions to ask and many issues to take up. Had my PC not kaput and eventually leading to the loss of a huge part of what I had painstakingly written with references while in Norway with additions in London, my intended book taking up those issues would have been out years ago.
Incidentally, my next intended article after writing "How Some "Ewes" Became a Part of Ghana" is titled "Who Are the Ewes". It is just a revisit to my first ever post to a cyber forum in early 1994, Okyeame precisely, which Azar should remember so well, as in spite of my providing a reference, he still challenged me to give that! It was sent as my contribution, incidentally, to another NPP instigated scare against poor but hard working Ewe and Ada fishing cum farming pioneers (won't call them settlers) displaced by the effects of the Akosombo Dam on the neglected downstream people who opened up the mosquito infested and disease-ridden Afram Plains. The claim was that the NDC wanted to carve a district for them there and thereby claim the land for them! Wives and children were hastily sent home in order to keep them out of harm’s way in the event of attacks on the communities. That was when I decided not to sit any longer on the fence, just like the majority of my fellow educated Ewes, who think responding to such attacks on Ewes is beneath them, since madmen, "dzimakplawo" and "gbemelawo" were responsible! That was the common “wisdom” repeated by Rawlings at Tsiame, when he was queried by the worried chiefs and people about the ongoing Ewe demonization in the opposition media and political platforms in the ‘90s.
Gratuitous counter abuse, especially directed at Asantes ad nauseam, is not the way to tackle the issues, as some are presently doing on Ghanaweb. In the ‘90s, the Ghanaian stage was left to a novice like Komla Dumor to deal with on JoyFM with his “Ayigbe Jokes” series., which horrified and mortified me when I first listened to it online in 1997 or so. A programme like that would have found him and JoyFM foul of the Anti-Vilification Laws of any of the Western Europe countries and sanctioned appropriately. I doubt though whether half of our “honourable” MPs have heard of such a law, but that is the way we must go and huge revision of the school curricula. But that calls for another article.
Well, simply, many do not know how to deal with the madmen who repeatedly take their loins cloth while in the bath house! I know how! After all, I know the story of how the Anloga man dealt with the mad man of Tegbi and remained sane; the mad man who used to way lay the “asisiawo” - the market women - from the Keta market with a club and the question: axor a ava lo, alo axor a ekpo?, i.e., do you want penis or do you want club? And one day he raped and killed the heavily pregnant wife of the Anloga man. Of course, it is a taboo to deal with mad men in our society.
Ahoofe and his ilk’s tribalistic insults directed at Anlo-Ewes in particular and Agyapong's call to mayhem can be placed in perspective if you are informed about their origins. They used the tribal card so well in 1969 and think they can continue using it forever. No! Some of us decided long ago that ourselves and children shall not remain objects of demonization and vilification for the political objectives of some people who are still suffering from the mental warpedness that the slave trade had foisted on our ancestors. We shall therefore make sure that these appeal to ethnic differences backfire big time on their stupid faces!
I am therefore re-sending and shall continue re-posting this short piece I had put together especially for the readership of Ghanaweb and shall continue with my series on the Ethnic imbroglio in Ghana. Agyapong's outburst is simply the tip of the canker that permeates our body politic that must be dealt with at its roots. They are not the only Akans who suffer from what I have dubbed “Ewe angst and fears”, which afflict the generality of Akans due to how they are weaned and socialised. What do you expect from people who, as kids, are frightened to drink their Mist Alba, behave themselves or go to bed early with the Ewe bogeyman imagery?
Andy C. Y. Kwawukume
cyandyk@ymail.com
London
THE ETHNIC IMBROGLIO IN GHANA: THE ORIGINS, PART 1
The tribal imbroglio, rather than starting in recent times, has been brewing for a long, long while now. In fact, the roots of the prejudices and the insults we see some raining on others date back to pre-colonial times. So, any attempt to understand the worrying phenomenon must address the canker from that era. That is what I intend to do, with special focus on the apparent cleavage between Ewes and Akans (and any others). But now, I’d begin with the colonial times. When you hear the cry of lamentation:
Dza le le leeeeeee!
Me zu kluvi
The road to Kontsiabu
Strewn with gold dusts.
Only those without
in their eyes gold dusts
felt the pangs of hunger and thirst…
then you’d know that the time to narrate the doleful tales of the pre-colonial era, where it all began, has arrived; but you’d get a glimpse now.
Not to waste time apportioning blame, the Akans (and Gas, if I may add them), started these tribal abuse and attacks on Ewes many decades ago; nay, centuries back, as I said earlier. But as mentioned above, I won't delve as yet into the pre-colonial times when it was free for all, with even some Ewe states joining in marauding and plundering other Ewe states for the slave markets of the Gold Coast. I had indeed provided a write up on that sordid era on Ghanaweb’s SIL in the 1990s, which is available. One German businessman with biz connections to Ghana who used to read the nonsense on SIL wrote a private mail to me saying that he was always wondering why Africans sold each other into slavery to Europeans and Arabs; reading my detailed historical account enlightened him on how and why it happened for the first time. That story must be re-told all over Africa in other to understand the roots of the conflicts that bedevilled the continent after independence.
In Ghana, the colonial times modern version started after the WW1 when Anlo, Tongu and Peki migrants from within the Gold Coast and those from the newly acquired TVT from the Germans started moving to the Akan and Ga areas to either fish, farm or seek paid employment. Ewes from Togo and Benin Republic (Dahomey) escaping from French repressive rule came later. Some Ewes, esp. the educated ones, also got jobs with the commercial houses and the colonial administration. Some, such as Gbedema and Nkulenu, started their own private businesses. Soon, they were becoming prosperous in their chosen fields and/or rising up in the ranks wherever they were employed due to the usual hard working nature of most migrants. After all, the far superior German missionary vocational educational set up, compared to the British, had equipped them much better with skills in the crafts and building, such as carpentry and masonry, which were in much demand by the colonial authority and the other natives of the Gold Coast and Asante. That was when trouble began and the attacks started, as far back as the 1930s.
Below is a brief quote from S. Greene about how the Fantes started perceiving Anlo-Ewe fisher folk; a perception or prejudice which is not much different from what permeates the Akan ethnic group as a whole up to today (not only a few bigots on Ghanaweb). Ewes find out to our chagrin or amusement, often as a kid, that that was how our fellow country men and women perceive us. The encounter is therefore a personal story too.
Not much has changed in the prejudiced minds of too many Akans, as we daily witness on Ghanaweb, even though many too have developed over the years an obsession or desire to marry Ewe girls, failure which often brought in its wake stories of tribalism heaped against Ewes. As I told some Akan teacher colleagues in Nigeria, it was the scary and “irrational” Akan “wofa” (uncle) inheritance system, stupid! Horrible stories of how Ewe widows were in particular dispossessed and treated shabbily were enough to dissuade any idea of marriage to even a most love besotted Akan man! It is no wonder that, with the interstate law of inheritance in place, marriage to Akan men has been on the increase.
I know an Ewe from the Peki area who swore that it’d never be possible to change the jaundiced perception of Akans of Ewes from his own experiences attending Mpraeso Teacher Training College, and then teaching at Mpraeso and in Kumasi. He said one particular woman - a cook in the school - they used to go to church with wouldn’t believe that he did not have any “akpeledzi” under their bed! I said it was possible and gave an example of my own experiences in Nigeria. I managed to convince my fellow Akan teachers that I don’t indulge nor believe in those things - juju or voodoo or even any god (white or black), and wouldn’t drink “ogogoro” with them – when there is original Gordon’s gin and lime cordial to have – and they somehow lost some “respect”, (or was it fear?) for me. They’d say I wasn’t a proper Anloman and fool around with me!
Between 1982-4, when their Anti-Ewe diatribes had reached fever point and they were advocating massacring Ewes as done to the Ibos in Nigeria who they claimed were also allegedly dominating Nigeria in the 1960s, I thought of putting some fear into them by creating some “kporsi” (“see-and-run”) to scare them. Fact is, practically every smart Ewe knows how to scare Akans and Gas even though they don’t have “foko” (anything), as we say in Anlo but I will keep that out of this write up. Good I didn’t do so, otherwise they’d be giving testimonies up to today about what an Anlo teacher did to them in Nigeria – they’d have packed out and run from their rooms on the ground floor of the storey building we were hiring. I “protected” myself practically by chocking the door handle with a chair, as I had seen in movies, before I went to bed, in order to prevent them from making me the first casualty of their let-us-kill-Ewes mania! Funny some of them even became staunch PNDC supporters, only to change their minds again years later when I met some on a visit to Ghana.
Anyway, enough with the digression into the personal narrative and to Sandra Greene.
From p.148 of Sandra Greene I quote:
"Increased Anlo identification with their northern Ewe-speaking neighbours may have also been enhanced by the experience many had while participating in migrant fishing. After World War I, numerous groups of Anlo men and women traveled to other coastal areas, including the Fante area of the Gold Coast, in order to pursue their commercial fishing activities. For many, this was probably the first time they had traveled outside their home area, and/or to a district where they were a distinct linguistic minority. In these locations, they conducted themselves as they had in their own home villages, but those among whom they come to live - often temporarily, just for the fishing season - came to view the Anlos' prosperity with jealousy and suspicion. Stories circulated that associated the Anlo with "blood-curdling" crimes. R.W. Wyllie indicates, for example, that from at least the 1930s "Fanti [children] learned to view the Anlos as thieves, kidnappers, sorcerers, and ritual murderers." The social tensions that accompany these beliefs - and the very fact that these beliefs were held by a non-Ewe speaking people - must have heightened the Anlo's awareness of their linguistic and cultural background and generated some sense of identification with their Ewe-speaking peoples whom they would have encountered in the Gold Coast."
The encounter with the Gold Coasters was enough to turn any Ewe into a paranoid schizophrenic, developed a siege mentality (become “inward-looking”?) and very resentful towards any idea of union with the Gold Coast, not to mention marry an Akan.
As some of you know, the Anlo area through Tongu to the Peki area had been part of the Gold Coast colony proper, effectively from 1874 though the British “bought” and claimed the area from the Danes in 1850; hence the freedom to move to other parts of the Gold Coast and Asante later. Besides, many southern Ewes are descendants Ga-Adangbe, Elmina and Denkyira fugitives dating back respectively to 1687 when the Akwamus first thrashed the Gas for cutting the “bolobolo” (foreskin) of their prince sent to the Ga Mantse Okai Koi’s court to understudy courtship, and 1700, when the Asantes defeated the Denkyiras and took over Elmina from the Denkyiras. Going back to Ge (Accra) and Sima (Shama) with their new kinsmen was just like returning to the ancestors' land. In fact, it was the descendants of those fugitives who were the first migrants, having maintained links with their ancestral lands during their long period in exile. Reindorf had written about that back and forth movement among the Ga fugitives long ago. That’s how Osu-Anecho came to be founded and how all Ewes got the derogatory epithet “Ayigbe” (Ayi refuse), whether they were descendants of fugitives or not. The “dzulor” bit the Gas added originally referred to the Okai Koi stool regalia which the Ga-Ewes in Togo refused to return to Accra and still claim to be its protectors. Remember the trips with pre-colonial undertones their chiefs made to Ghana when the NPP took over power in 2000?
I can make long comments on the above quote but suffice it to say that it was the beginning and end of the love affair which started as unification with the Gold Coast movement ending up as the drive to secede from the Gold Coast. So we read from the December 6, 1919 edition of the West Africa magazine a letter sent to the colonial government of the Gold Coast:
“We PEOPLE of Togoland, descended from two principal countries, Elmina
(Ane) and Accra (Ge), both of the Gold Coast Colony, ask to have British government because it is the government of our fathers, whose customs are our customs, and a British Colony is half-an-hour distant from us.
We ask to have British government because it is the government of our kith and kin, our race and our tribe.
We ask for British government because of our relationship with our people on the west, which must assert itself..” (culled from West Africa 12-16 Dec. 1994)
And so on it went. One may wonder why the petitioners did not even acknowledge the Ewes, Dagombas, Konkombas, Akans and the host of other ethnic and tribal groups in Togo who also have their “kith and kin” within the Gold Coast and the Northern Territories. I guess this piece of history may come as a surprise to the ingrates who make a living of always reminding us that Ewes come from Togo, some of whom carried a video to Lome to trace the roots of Fiifii Kwetey there, instead of doing so in Accra! Well, he said he was from Nogokpo, which rubbed a sore spot for me, but that’s another story.
THE EWE BACKLASH
By the 1940s, Ewes, Anlos in particular, in the Gold Coast had had enough of the vilification and undeserved demonisation their successes were arousing. The returnee Anes and Ges (Gas), now fused as the Genyi, as Anlos refer to them, through intermarriages, also soon discovered that they were not welcome, or often welcomed with shouts of “Ayigbe dzulor”! Disenchantment set in and secession from Ghana became a far better option. The result was the 1956 plebiscite and the rest is history.
Then come the post Feb 24 1966 coup era, when Busia and his PP turned this traditional vilification of Ewes into a political tool to win the 1969 general elections. It was preceded by an internal struggle within the NLC to share the spoils of office after the coup. An extended quote from Dennis Austin, that great chronicler of Ghana history, captures the gist of it, so here we go:
“A surprising and disagreeable novelty of the election was the extraordinary anti-Ewe sentiment that was express1ed in conversation with many of those who were against Gbedemah and his party. One can explain this strong animus not simply by a dislike of Gbedema’s reappearance in political life but in relations to events after the 1966 coup. Suddenly there were the soldiers and the police, and everyone burst out singing, but when the music died down away it was noticed that the NLC (it seemed) was commanded by minorities: Ewe and Ga. When Ankrah (a Ga), was moved out, and charges were brought over-hastily by Harlley against the Chief of Defence Staff, Michael Otu, the evidence to many was overwhelming. It was all an Ewe plot. Soon Ghana would be run for the benefit of an energetic minority, operating first within the armed forces, and now behind Gbedemah. ‘Appoint an Ewe to a public corporation or to a government department and within a year the entire hierarchy down to the messenger will be an Ewe.’ So the argument ran. And there was always some evidence for it, since the Ewe, deprived of any natural wealth in their own barren region, have been energetic in seizing the opportunities of public employment, including positions in the army and the police, which wealthier communities (like the Akan) did not wish to occupy. In practice, looking through the list of senior officers in government department and the public corporations, the evidence is certainly not clear of any Ewe domination: it could hardly be in view of their number. But a belief does not, of course, have to be true before people hold it fervently.
Now there is an Akan-dominated government of an Akan dominated society. Were I to become, by some improbable chance of fate, leader of the governing party I would be much less apprehensive of my Ewe opponents in front than of the large and expectant following behind. I would be fearful too of the ambitions of those now excluded from power, remembering the Songs of Innocence that:
The strongest poison ever known
Came from Caeser’s laurel crown” (D. Austin 1976:125)
Austin was writing with hindsight about what befell Busia’s regime, overthrown in a coup led by an Asante.
In Part 2, I intend to examine the hate campaign against the Ewes and the consequences or reactions from the 1970s which led to Kofi Awoonor’s infamous prison book, The Ghana Revolution, which he claimed he wrote in prison when gaoled for helping Brig. Kattah to escape from Ghana. It’d be necessary to focus on the Ghana Army, from its origins and recruitment trends since it is at the crux of the matter.
.
Andy C.Y. Kwawukume, better known as C.Y. Andy-K, is a freethinker, Pan-Africanist and an ardent Nkrumaist.
cyandyk@ymail.com
References:
Dennis Austin (1976): Ghana Observed: Essays on the Politics of a W. African Republic.
Manchester Univ. Press.
Sandra E. Greene (1995): Gender, Ethnicity, and Social Change on the Upper Slave
Coast: A History of the Anlo-Ewe. Heinemann and James Currey
Robert W. Wyllie. “Migrant Anlo Fishing Companies and Socio-Political Change: A
Comparative Study.” Africa, XXXIX, 4 (1969), 396-410.
SARPONG 9 years ago
Idiot, continue to lie to moronic ndc fools that Lome is an Ewe city. Why are you inferiority complex trokosi claiming a city outside Ghana as Ewe city when we all know Lome is a kabres city? Go ahead and be proud of Ho, the ... read full comment
Idiot, continue to lie to moronic ndc fools that Lome is an Ewe city. Why are you inferiority complex trokosi claiming a city outside Ghana as Ewe city when we all know Lome is a kabres city? Go ahead and be proud of Ho, the Ewe capital of Ghana, what a lost soul.
narkey 9 years ago
I feel sorry for you
I feel sorry for you
WUNTIRA 9 years ago
The last IEA debate before the 2012 elections proved beyond all reasonable doubts that Nana Addo is not a thinker. He had one answer to all the questions asked-Free SSS! Mahama I believe was miles ahead of Nana. NPP should pr ... read full comment
The last IEA debate before the 2012 elections proved beyond all reasonable doubts that Nana Addo is not a thinker. He had one answer to all the questions asked-Free SSS! Mahama I believe was miles ahead of Nana. NPP should provide Ghanaians with a better alternative. Nana Addo, apart from being too weak, old and sick, he is also intellectually bankrupt. No wonder his law qualification is a subject of dispute. I personally don't believe he has a law certificate.
Wood 9 years ago
Quoting bob marley out of context is a hint to your mental processes!
Quoting bob marley out of context is a hint to your mental processes!
Kirk Morris 9 years ago
Most of you who comment on articles lack the critical thinking faculties as such your inabilities to offer quality alternatives than insult.
Wood read to understand. Author is a subtle and a good writer. He found a way to ... read full comment
Most of you who comment on articles lack the critical thinking faculties as such your inabilities to offer quality alternatives than insult.
Wood read to understand. Author is a subtle and a good writer. He found a way to indict those who in one breath claim others are tribalist but they are worst offenders.
He never quotes Bob Marley however he makes inferences to draw attention using the song as a measure to those who are prepared to remove a speck in others eye but do not care about the log he/she has.
Maybe you belong to that class of people hence your worry.
Think little mind.
Agbedefu Korku 7 years ago
Well said big man. I have been following you for quite a long time and this piece is one of the insightful and thought provoking write up I have read from you since 2012.
Well said big man. I have been following you for quite a long time and this piece is one of the insightful and thought provoking write up I have read from you since 2012.
OSARFO MARFO IS RIGHT ON MAHAMAS INTENTIONAL SIDELINE OF AUTOCHTHONOUS AKANS!!
I have listened to the tape played, and I honestly think that Osafo Marfo was making an emphatic frank statement.
The only issue is that, his f ...
read full comment
chase these crazy bigots out of the town
this comment shows how ignorant and shallow minded u are
Pure balderdash! This attempt to rather brand the victims of "these Akans" bigotry and prejudice as the purveyors of bigotry in Ghana wouldn't even wash with foreigners who come to read the nonsense on Ghanaweb.
Of course, ...
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The issue brewing is bigotry of Osafo Maafo. The last I check he is not an Ashanti. Is an issue of the toothless owing cagey when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. Am Fante and an ardent supporter of the NDC. I think Safo ...
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Who said Ashanti is synonym to Akan?. Fool Akan like you has given some tribalist Ewe's to continue their hatred for Akans. You and your house hold and even your entire town can support NDC, nobody gives a shit. Yes Osafo Mar ...
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VOTE JOHN MAHAMA OUT IN 2016. HE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING. HE IS ONLY CELEBRATING HIS POSITION. WE NEED A THINKER TO LEAD US.
''We have been vice presidents for far too long, it is time you make ONE OF YOUR OWN presi ...
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Childish and stupid, no substance. Pure garbage. .
So call Uncle Al, are u hurt? Challenge article with a re-joinder. It sound childish and stupid cos it's hurts and prickles your mind. A lot of sense, lessons to grasp.
It seem pure garbage to u but article is full wisdom ...
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Your observation is right. We all know the agelong games played by Ewes for political advantage against Ashantis. I am an Ewe and Iknow the Ewe funny games--the modus operandi. The Ewes play the victims to get sympathy from o ...
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Charles Agbenu no Ewhe with head on his neck will vote for a political party that member of parliament call on other people to kill Ewhes and Ghas with knives and pestles. No Ewhe in his right frame of mind will vote again fo ...
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Kwame Nkrumah build the Adomi and Sogakofe bridges, started the construction of the Circle Overpass in 1966 before he was overthrown. He was overthrown in 1966 by the imperialist who promised that they will make Ghana heaven ...
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Just fuck off! You are not an Ewe and everybody knows that. An Ewe who can't even spell Ewe names properly????
Now, read this and tell me who are the bigots and always attacking the other?
WILFULLY BLIND OR JUST PLAIN I ...
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Idiot, continue to lie to moronic ndc fools that Lome is an Ewe city. Why are you inferiority complex trokosi claiming a city outside Ghana as Ewe city when we all know Lome is a kabres city? Go ahead and be proud of Ho, the ...
read full comment
I feel sorry for you
The last IEA debate before the 2012 elections proved beyond all reasonable doubts that Nana Addo is not a thinker. He had one answer to all the questions asked-Free SSS! Mahama I believe was miles ahead of Nana. NPP should pr ...
read full comment
Quoting bob marley out of context is a hint to your mental processes!
Most of you who comment on articles lack the critical thinking faculties as such your inabilities to offer quality alternatives than insult.
Wood read to understand. Author is a subtle and a good writer. He found a way to ...
read full comment
Well said big man. I have been following you for quite a long time and this piece is one of the insightful and thought provoking write up I have read from you since 2012.