Subj: Our Culture of Adhocery - Historical Note of Correction #1
Date: 14/01/97
To: E.K. Adu@massey.ac.nz
, Okyeame@mit.edu
CC: Okyeame@serengeti.AfricaOnline.com
Brothers and Sisters ,
I have been rudely stirred out of my winter hibernation in by EK Adu's post which began by
paraphrasing the Bishop of Kumasi, Kwasi Sarpong.
In a rather rambling piece the writer sought to cast doubt on the role of the Ga in the
defeat of the Asante during the Glover War (the Eastern half of the pincer movement which
constituted the Sagrenti War upon Kumasi) .
He obviously confuses this with Nsamankow, suggesting that they were mere lackeys of the
white man. It appears to me that E.K. Adu is some sort of scientist. He however seems to
be repeating the common Ghanaian mistake of people not checking their assumed facts before
going public with them.
Now, I am not one to let the guesswork and outright distortion of EK Adu stand
unchallenged, and in time probably pass for fact. This debate, as I see it, is essentially
about Asante attempts at dominance in Ghana, and the disingenuous efforts to cast the same
as the assertion of the rights of all the Akan.
The Akanfo or Akan Concept
It is never been cogently argued who the Akan are, and why that definition should exclude,
for instance, the Ga and Ewe who share some Akan traditional institutions and
nomenclature. So far the main criteria for Akanness seem to be matrilineality, alleged
original or first known settlement at Bono-Techiman, the sharing of common borders and the
non-practice circumcision.
As to language for example, many distinct ethnic groups in Central , East and Southern
Africa speak mutually intelligible versions of Bantu without being considered one people.
Strictly-speaking one becomes an Akan through possession of the female blood. This means
that a son of e.g. the Asantehene by a Dagomba woman is not Akan.
In case, you consider this too academic, I can assure you it is the definition adopted by
the courts of Ghana in succession to the property of intestate Akans. The venerable John
Mensah Sarbah, for instance, wrote that: "Fanti laws and customs apply to all Akans
and Fantis and to all persons whose mothers are of Akan and Fanti races" (See JM
Sarbah, Fanti Customary Laws, London 1897, p. 15).
It would be interesting to know whether this factor was taken into consideration in
compiling statistics in the past on ethnic composition in Ghana. If it wasn't the
census-takers must have been in some very gross error indeed. It may further be noticed
from the above quote that Sarbah himself appears to make a distinction between Akan or
Twi-speakers and the Fanti.
By the above criteria for "Akanness" other peoples in South-eastern Ghana, say,
the Gá-Dangme, the Ewe and certain Guan groups could easily create their own ethnic bloc
based on the practice of circumcision, patrilineality, migration from the East and
historical inter-mingling through settlement on each other's territory.
Such a group could be designated the Boka ("East"), emphasising their origin
Eastern origin. Like the Akan they would not all share a common language but would be
cohesive and numerically strong enough to polarise Ghana (at least the Southern part of
it) along an Akanfo/Boka faultline.
Development of the Akan Concept
Reference has been made on Okyeame to the influence of Fanti "philosophers" to
the development of Southern Ghanaian, specifically Akan, culture. The term Akan was
actually introduced by John Mensah Sarbah, Kobina Sekyi, J.E.Casely-Hayford, J.B. Danquah,
etc., deriving it from the term "Akanfo" of which "Akan" is the
anglicised version.
A 1629 map reproduced in John Bosman's A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of
Guinea, London 1967 reprint (plate opposite p. 1), shows that Akan was actually one of a
number of small states in what is now Southern Ghana.Questions of common origin and the
like, as considered by the early native intellectuals, were at best guesswork.
JB Danquah, for instance, suggested that the Akanfo originated in Mali, arguing that they
were the builders of the ancient Ghana empire, and therefore succeeding in his argument
that the Gold Coast should be re-named Ghana. In fact, the ancient Muslim empire of Mali
had nothing to do with any of the peoples of present-day Ghana; the Mandingo and kindred
peoples were the known builders of the Ghana empire.
If anything, it was the serendipitous lumping together of various native groups of
uncertain origin within the forests of Southern and Middle Ghana which provided the
beginnings of a common culture as well as a lingua franca in the form of a common trading
language, Twi. Much of what is today depicted as being distinctly Asante culture, for
instance, derived from things introduced by the Portuguese - for instance the carrying of
notables in palanquins, the art of weaving, goldsmithery, deathmasks, etc.
There is no common history of unity, the dominant factor in defining a people, to link the
Asante to the other Akanfo. Further, day-names, such as Kofi, Kwame and their variations
are so widely spread over Southern Ghana, Southern Togo, Southern Ivory Coast (e.g. Kojo
(Ga), Kwadwo (Asante/Fanti) and Kodjo (Ewe)) that it would be absurd to suggest that they
should constitute the basis of a common identity for only Akanfo peoples.
There is evidence that the practice of chiefs sitting on stools was long practised in the
kingdom of Benin with which the Ga and Ewe have been associated during their migrations.
Also, history tells us that long before the Asante allegedly conjured and worshipped a
stool out of the skies (believe it if you wish; as far as I am concerned it is utter
mumbo-jumbo) (approximately 1700) the Ga stool had been sent by Ga royal migrants, the
present-day Gé or Genyi of Anecho in Togo.
Even more crucially, the Akwamu whose emergence really bequeathed the Asante with notions
of statecraft, learnt the art of government from the Ga; they sent their princes to the
court of King Okaikoi. The contention that the Asante and allied peoples taught the rest
of Ghana the art of chiefship is therefore of dubious validity.
But perhaps the greatest evidence of the meaninglessness of the Akanfo concept is Asante
tendency to go it alone, play mischief with the term, and lord or attempt to lord it over
other Akanfo. For the Asante, the term "Akan" is no more than a tool of
convenience to be used in furtherance of their majoritarian claims and covert aims and
aspirations. Herein lies the justification of the baseless claims by some Ghanaian
politicians and journalists that Akans constitute over 60 per cent of Ghana's population.
I wouldn't put it past those who repeat this lie to massage population figures in Ghana at
the least opportunity.
Asante wars of aggression upon the Akanfo
Worse, Asante wars of aggression, waged mainly against other Akan at the least excuse
shatters any notion of the Asante ever realistically spearheading a drive for Akanfo
unity. Please refer to the statement of Bowdich (Mission from Cape Coast Castle to
Ashantee, London 1918, page 4): "Few [Fantis] were slain in battle, for they rarely
dared to encounter the invaders; but the butcheries in cold blood were incredible, and
thousands were dragged into the interior to be sacrificed to the superstitions of the
conquerors."
Now, one presumably Asante contributor on Okyeame has suggested that he has a pint of
Polish blood in his veins. If he truly has Polish blood in his veins he must have heard of
German reparations and compensation to the Poles and others, including the loss of German
territory to both Poland and Russia.
Would he support a demand for reparations to the Fanti? Here's the rub. So long as the
Asante pretend that others are unaware of their atrocities and dress the same up as acts
of bravery and heroism they are bound to annoy many.
Let them be reminded afresh that those wars of aggression involved the murder, maiming,
looting, pillaging, theft, arson, and other barbarous cruelties to other peoples. It is
all very well for Asante historians and bigots to beat their breasts over this, but others
are not amused by this undisguised celebration of criminality.
There is nothing extraordinary about bravery. As one with active military combat
experience ( I fought in the British army in Cyprus and was decorated ) I should know.
Bravery depends of psychosocial factors as well as motivation. Hence the concerns of
generals the world over with morale and discipline within the ranks. Superstition, such as
Okomfo Anokye created in Asante, has always been a principal factor in the fighting
quality of African troops. Take the current conflict in Liberia. Unfounded belief in
immunity from bullets has sent countless young men dying; the same applied to the Mau Mau
and others.
The Asante had only to make men swear the "ntam kesie miensa", the "oath of
Memienda (?) or whatever oath was appropriate and apply the necessary rituals to raise
their fighting quality. if it is argued that the Asante were of the same origin, being
Akanfo, as the Akwapim it becomes nonsense to argue that the Asante are inherently any
braver than other Akan. The literature on coups in Ghana as well as the records of trials
of coup-makers provide an interesting sub-text on superstitious and black magic influence
on coup-making.
To be Continued
Numo Notse Amartey
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