Subj: SIMPLE LIES & COMPLEX TRUTHS : History, Ethno-Politics and Ghana Part 2
Date: 15/09/98
To: Okyeame@mit.edu, africa_think_tank@databack.com,
To: Emmanuel.Ellison@usdoj.gov, ade@equinoxc.demon.co.uk,
To: akwawukume@usa.net
CC: ades@equinoxc.demon.co.uk, africa@africaonline.com.gh, gnaddy@cyberia.net.lb,
ayittey@american.edu, n.addy@london.com, eddtorto@hackney.gov.uk,
CC: addyy@rpi.edu, acon@africaonline.com.gh, Taflatse@aol.com, enikoi@spelman.edu,
Compatriots ,
SIMPLE LIES & COMPLEX TRUTHS : History, Ethno-Politics and Ghana Part 2
Of Empires, Guns , Twisted Logic and Today's World
The Ghanaian historian-politician ( quite often a dangerous combination of professions ) ,
A. Adu-Boahen, has done more than most to continually remind Ghanaian children
of the deeds of the Asante.
Indeed he has gone as far as to create the term "Asante empire" and by merely
superimposing his own whimsical map on the map of Ghana, done more than his ancestors ever
did on the field of battle to "conquer" the people of Southern Ghana for the
"Asante empire". He has created the myth that all Southern Ghanaians were Asante
subjects.
Any wonder that the Asante are today emboldened into making exclusive claims for
leadership in Ghana. The reality is the diametrical opposite.
The idea of empire has never been native to Ghana.
Suggestions of empire indicate a detailed administrative and control system as existed in,
for instance, Judea under the Romans or as obtained in the Gold Coast under the British
when various governors and subordinate officials kept subject peoples in check. It
involved a standing army and corp of administrators that run the various localities.
Did the Asante ever devise the administrative and military know-how to operate such a
system?
Does the writ of even the Government of modern Ghana run effectively in all parts of
the country? Anybody who knows our country well would realise that this is not and
has never been so.
Although Prof Boahen writes as an intellectual complete with the weight of authority that
a PhD attaches to one's name his books, and therefore his claims, are hardly ever
footnooted .
NB: (See for example, AA Boahen, Topics in West African History, London 1966;
JB Webster & AA Boahen, The Revolutionary Years - West Africa Since 1800, London 1967,
p. 123 - a map showing an Asante empire larger than the territorial extent of modern
Ghana).
This affords him the freedom of extensively embroidering on Ghana history, and indulging
in creative historiography of the lowest order. He claimed at p. 77 of Topics in West
African History that the Asante conquered the Ga.
When did this happen and at what battle or in what circumstances? What lasting effects did
Asante conquest leave on the Ga?
In the same vein Boahen and his like have curiously avoided discussion of the Asante
defeat by the Ga at the Battle of Katamanso, another Asante war of aggression for which
they paid dearly.
Ever heard of the Dodowa forest? Yes, it has become a Ghanaian version of Waterloo.
I understand that in Twi "Kata-manso" means that which is to be covered up.
Alternately, when Boahen has been compelled to briefly touch on the Battle of Katamanso or
Dodowa, he casts it as a battle between the Asante and the white man. In my estimation
this standpoint only demonstrates Boahen's contempt for the ability of non-Asante peoples
in Ghana.
Yes, the Ga fought with the British during the Sagrenti War (not Nsamankow as stated
by Ellison), but their role here is also is obscured by Boahen who dismissed the Eastern
campaign under Captain John Glover, and emphasises the Eastern campaign through Fantiland
as unwarranted breach of Asante territorial integrity.
The accounts show that for the Ga the Eastern campaign was another Katamanso; the records
are replete with Ga rejection of Captain John Glover's leadership. In fact, they refused
to proceed to Kumasi, restricting their campaign to a storming of Duffo island and the
expulsion of the resident Asante and Akwamu garrison. There was no suggestion that the Ga
fought as British lackeys.
The Ga Defeat of Asante at Katamanso ( 1826)
Let us examine the facts about the Katamanso routing of the Asante for ourselves. It was
stated by none other than John Mensah Sarbah ( Fanti National Constitution 1968 reprint,
page 81):
"Some writers say that by this treaty the local rulers acknowledged British
protection, but the same writers forget that the defeat suffered by the Asanti sovereign
and his forces five years previously, at the battle of Dodowa, in 1826, was inflicted by
the natives; for although the use of rockets and grapes turned the scale at the critical
moment, there were not more than sixty white soldiers present in a force of 11,380
men."
Europeans may over-state their exploits in Africa as they wish, but it is far more likely
that their arms had little effect on the Asante combatants who were already mixed with the
Ga and were engaged in bitter hand to hand fighting.
It should be emphasised, since Ellison seems to suggest that the Ga were mere footsoldiers
in a white army that the Gold Coast was colonised in the 1870s and that at the time (1826)
the Ga were mainly living territory designated a Dutch sphere of influence. The Ga monarch
at Katamanso was therefore not under British command no matter what British writers may
say to the contrary.
Moving On
One smells fear and defeatism in Ellison's recourse to dodgy argumentation. But he needn't
worry. As far as I am concerned this particular issue has been over-squeezed; we cannot
perpetually dwell on the subject of Asante. It will suffice if the Asante realise that
they have been over-playing their hand; and that they need to be sensitive to the concerns
of others, and cease adopting a monopolistic attitude to state power and past glory.
For all and sundry the 1996 elections may well go down in history as the moment the wheels
fell off the tribal bandwagon in Ghana politics, and the crushing realisation dawned on
the chauvinists that accession to leadership should primarily be on the basis of calibre,
not ethnicity or Asanteness. It is quite welcome that the current leaders of the NPP now
appreciate this reality
The Machiavellian schemes of the Rawlings regime in the the run-up to the last elections
never cease to amaze objective observers. No sooner had Arkaah's candidacy been confirmed
than the NDC tabloids started to dig the dirt with exposés involving exclusives by his
alleged lover and victim, Jemima Yalley. From that moment on it was clear that the
Opposition had been wrong-footed and that it was going to be out-manoeuvred.
As far as I can tell the Oppostion will continue to have a hard time dislodging Rawlings'
and his men; for once they have worked out a way, fair or foul, of hanging to power they
can only become more adept at that. Better still they have bags of money too to carry out
their nefarious aims. On the other hand, for how long would altruistic individuals pour
money down the Opposition's bottomless expenditure pit, knowing that matters might in the
end be rigged by government? For this and other reasons the financial problems of the
Opposition can only become ever more daunting.
Let us not forget the undeniable fact that there has never been a transfer of power from
one civilian regime to another through the ballot box in our country. The wishful thinkers
aside, all must realise that it is going to be difficult changing this pattern. A surer
bet lies in attempting a change from within the government.
Strategically this offers a better approach; for whether through palace coup or Kulungungu
insiders have always been the most effective wreckers of Ghanaian regimes. Indeed, the
Akata Pores, Giwas and others who came closest to threatening the regime were all
insiders. So indeed were Arkaah and Kufuor, former insiders. The task ahead, in my view,
is to perfect the art and to use the democratic mechanism to so infiltrate the Rawlings
regime that it is damaged from within. Play them at their own Machiavellian game,
employing tactics overt and covert.
Ethno-Federalists Show their True Colours
The latter-day enthusiasts of a federal Ghana are almost to a man ( or woman)
Asante-centric supporters of the NPP unable to come to terms with the reality that the
so-called Danquah-Busia tradition is a consistent loser in elections and that Asantes , as
a minority tribe, cannot lay claim to a monopoly of power.
At least these people are now showing their true colours . Let us all wait till the year
2000 when , presumably, these same Asante tribalists ( I cannot think of a more apt
description for them ) come round to ask the entire Ghanaian electorate to vote for their
party .
Majoritarianism and Proportional Representation
As should be obvious to any serious thinkers about Ghanaian politics the central issues
about our political future ought to centre of whether the first past the post system of
representation as presently obtains in our country really results in the best form of
parliamentary representation.
A passing knowledge of the calibre of the present crop of MPs should raise the question
whether it is really in our interests that sundry men and women of proven talent should
remain outside the political system.
Further, if one takes a micro view of our ethnic groups one wonders how many of the
smaller ones are represented in parliament. What about an Asante who permanently
supplants his or herself to Accra. Should his or descendants not be entitled to represent
their adopted locality in parliament?
Why should Accra's growing population worry others? Proportional representation provides
an answer to each of these questions.
Extended to cabinet level it would be a panacea to many of the gripes expressed on
Okyeame. Germany, and many other democratic countries have adopted the system of
proportional representation. Here in the U.S., it is widely acknowledged that the quality
of legislation, and consequently of national governance, depends on the quality of
legislators.
Properly adapted, proportional representation could ensure representation from the
professional and chiefly classes, giving everyone a stake in the system, not simply the
garrulous and the cloak and dagger politicians that infest the corridors of power. I can
guarantee that unbridled majoritarianism can only lead to a new round of coups.
Indeed, the claim for Akan majority status in Ghana and the consequent annoyance of other
elements of Ghana's population is based on the perception that an Akan majority implies a
demand that Akans should rule Ghana under any democratic or other system. It is a most
shameless substitution of a lie for a fact.
In a democratic dispensation it is impossible for a tiny cabal of Ewes to dominate even
the NDC without the majority acquiescing in their own domination. Does it not take the
vote of constituency delegates to nominate the NDC leader? And do Ewes not constitue a
minority within that electoral college?
A tiny tribalistic cabal may have been able to impose its will on others under previous
administrations headed by Rawlings, but there has been a sea-change. If those who scream
their heads off on tribal grounds take stock of the present mechanics of Ghanaian politics
they would realise that the means is there to check Ewe tribalism if any such thing
exists.
I have previously argued that the way to ditch Rawlings / NDC is to infiltrate his party
and effect change from within. I repeat that call again. In the meantime, I am not keen to
exchange Ewe domination for Asante dictatorship based dangerously on an ideology of
historical falsehoods.
As AB Bodomo, one of the genuine intellectuals on the net, has wisely written , what
is needed in Ghana is a history of nationality unity.
This must however be a history of truth, not myths, and that binds together our country's
past, present and future. Some are however not very comfortable with the present and are
correspondingly fearful of the future. therin lies the need to construct fraudulent tribal
supremacist myths designed to feed and nurture insecure personal and tribalist egos.
We cannot choose the ethics of Pontius Pilate and delight in glories brought about by war
while distancing ourselves from the atrocities war entails. The tribal dead and shamefully
enslaved of various Ghanaian groups ( including Asante itself ) should be respected and
the pathetic attempts to weave a tissue of lies and false glory over their cruel fate
stopped.
Long live Ghana !
NUMO NOTSE AMARTEY