The Ashanti Proposal

What Do We Do With The Ashanties?

As Ghanaians are enjoying democracy, the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of existence and being, unprecedented in the history of our nation; it remains no secret that some of us wished that the Ashantis were never manufactured (evolved) as a people, even as the Arabs and the others all over the world wished the Israelis were never chosen. Most of us with this strong Anti-Ashantism has really avail ourselves with the prevailing free political atmosphere, coupled with the availability of the print and electronic media, which we thank God we have now.

The Proposal

Therefore, upon this hatred for the Ashantis that some of us have (that we make no secret of), whether natural or artificial, founded or baseless, sane or maddening; what do we do with them - after all the shouts, curses, insults, and the wish that they never were, but unfortunately they are? I propose, that we (anti-Ashantis), gather all Ashantis, the old, and the infant, the rich and the poor, the educated and the downright illiterate, the beautiful and the ugly – I mean all of them in Ghana and around the world, and push them into the oceans for the marine world – maybe they would be welcomed there, but who cares what happens, after we have gotten rid of such thistles in the flesh for good?

The Counter-Proposal

Ladies and Gentlemen: Those of us who hate everything Ashanti, if the above proposal is insurmountable for us to carry out, then let us be sober and examine the facts about the Ashantis, and thus identify the best option for us to deal with the people we so much abhor with every bit of our being.

The Ashanti Fact Files

The Ashantis are the tribal people, that occupies mostly that part of the place in our country called the Ashanti Region, even though they are found all over the country and the world, of course. There are speculations that they originally descended from that part of the world called Palestine, maybe sojourned in Egypt for sometime before finally migrating to the forest belt of present Ghana, before the 13th century. We cannot be so sure of their origins, however, it is just common sense to believe that wherever they came from, they did not do so as severely separate people from the rest of the Akan people. If that were the case, then the mystery could best be cracked by saying, that their language might have been copied by the rest of the Akan group or else the Twi language then evoled within the Akan group from all the original languages of all the Akan tribes because of proximity and interaction.

Notwithstanding the above, they were known as distinct people by sometime before the 13th century. Their ingenuity as read in the history books, and witnessed by present day physical and live evidences, led them to evolve into the very rich, well organized, and strong Ashanti Kingdom, extending from present Ghana to the present neighboring states, where chiefs of the then vessel states (chiefdoms) still come to pay homage to the modern Ashanti king (Asantehene).

The Ashantis has played a major political, social, and economic role in the West African sub-region, since the inception of their kingdom, and thus the present day Ghana. During those days, when the Europeans were scuffling and scrumbling for the motherland, with the help of the then shortsighted coastal tribes, it was their long-sightedness and steadfastness that saved the land from total exploitation under the ancient-old European greed. This show of gallantry saved not only Ghana, but the whole of the middle sub-Saharan region from having to fight independent wars like the North Africans and later the Southern African states. This is because the British new what was in store for them should they prove stubborn in granting the independence of the people. It is mainly their blood we talk of, when we sing ‘the blood and toil of our fathers’.

Perceptions

Proud, illiterates and villagers are the most notorious brandings among others that those of us, who hate them, give to the Ashantis.

• Ashanti Pride!

First, is the Ashanti proud? And it is a big ‘Yes’! The Ashanti is proud, but not necessarily demeaning towards other people. The typical Ashanti pride is not to say ‘I am human more than you are’, no! It is to say ‘I am proud of who I am’. However, the typical Ashanti has very strong values; prominent among them are industriousity, wisdom, cleanliness, and valiancy. Therefore the Ashanti values and judges whoever he/she approaches by these values. (Make no mistake, this is a fact, therefore if this is a sin, then grievously they must pay for it). So therefore, if one falls short under these yardsticks, then one would not get the full respect that he might demand from the Ashanti. The typical Ashanti is open, hospitable, full of loving-kindness, and very respectful. These qualities are attested to by the fact that there is no other region in Ghana which harbors permanently other tribal residents like the Ashanti Region. No one will ever settle permanently among hostile people or where you are not made to feel at home. Vice versa Ashantis are working among other tribes. If they were not good people they would not have been welcomed. With respect, just listen to how the Ashanti addresses you: Nana, opanin, ohene, ohemaa, boss, chairman, manager, menua and the rest – true or false, Ladies and Gentle? • Ashanti Illiterates!

Second, the Ashanti illiterate! – Another biggy! I say ‘FALSE!”. The Ashantis has never been illiterates! Ladies and Gentlemen, what do we mean when we say that the Ashanti is illiterate? Do we mean the speaking or written of the Whiteman’s colonial language or what? Yes, that is where we name callers betray our emptiness with our parochialism. The Ashanti is proud to be an Ashanti, and thus proud to speak his native language. He only speaks other languages if he can, and when he cannot be understood in Twi – he is no broni wannabe. The oldest of the Ashanti, whether he can express himself in other languages or not, to the youngest is educated – that is why they are smart and enterprising. Make no mistake, literacy is not tantamount to education, so is education not only acquired in the confines of the classroom; and take it from me today: ‘Literacy without education is unless’ (quote from Ebenezer Kwabena Adomako Konto Ansa Boamah, 2007). I could be very fluent in English, but if I’m not educated, I would pour out only stinking trash, when I part my lips to speak. If education is equal to literacy of colonial English, then we must go shouting ‘illiterates, illiterates, illiterates…’ to the Japanese, Chinese and the Koreans, for at least the Ashanti can utter ‘Hello’.

However, granted that literacy is all that, those of us anti-Ashanti, what tribe could we possibly point out in Ghana to have more literates than the Ashantis, even proportionally? Or if fraternizing with the British is what we meant by literacy, then let me educate you today, that not even the Fantis, who were the allies and had babies with the Europeans could compare to the Ashantis in that sense. The ungrateful British had discarded their coastal allies immediately the Anglo-Ashanti war ceased. However, there has since been a long-standing fraternity between the Ashantis and the British. This is evidenced today by the long-standing relationship between the Golden Stool of Africa and the British Royal throne of the world. The lineage of your current president attests to this as well. Visit Nkwawie (not far from Kumasi) and see and learn about Nkwawiehene Nana Kuffuor of blessed memory and his flirtation with the British royalty. By the way, your first prime minister (general secretary) under Nkrumah, the late Martin Appiah Danquah hailed from the same stock. Many Ghanaian-British politicians and people of prominence in Britain are of Ashanti descent. The first African to have married a prominent person like the daughter of the Exchequer of Britain was an Ashanti. If literacy in English was equal to education, how could the late great Krobo-Adusei have virtual ruled Ghana from parliament under Nkrumah? Which of us Ashanti name callers can boldly proclaim to be smart than Adusei? If you think you are a big-shot, show by your deeds not just by your big-mouth.

• AshantiVillagers!

In the light of the above, can we rightly call them villagers? Or what do we mean by villagers? Is it because they don’t hail from Accra, or because they don’t live along the coast? Or do they live in stone-age huts? If we mean uncouth or backward, when we brand then villagers, then we all know that is totally unfounded, in fact the opposite is true. These people even had progressive civilization before the advent of the European. How could they have organized such a complex political entity like the Ashanti Kingdom? Do we forget about their technological skills in metals, wood, textiles and others? How could they have sustained a war for about 37 years with the combined force of the acknowledged civilized society like the British and the then close cousin-enemy battalions like the Fantis, wielding the Maxim guns, the first automatic machine gun, which could fire 500 rounds per second? Even today such fire power is deadly to a modern army. But then if dwelling in the capital makes one non-villager, then what about the backwardness of some Accra dwellers, the filth, the ‘Sodom and Gomorrahs? Or is it the presence of the sea that accredits one as civilized? So does it stand to reason that the people of landlocked Luxemburg are backward? Even if that was true, the Ashantis have the Bosomtwe Lake, which though not sea, but not much different from the sea; and if you like you can even call it sea because the Sea of Galilee is a lake as well. More importantly, the Bosomtwe Lake unlike the Ghanaian coastal line does not spot of shamful human excreta. To cut this one short, is the Gulf of Guinea an exhibit of the ingenuity and civilization of any tribe? Please let us tell them the truth, if that is so, because those Ashanti villagers know nothing! Do you talk of nice clean towns and villages spotting modern mansions? – Then only the Brong/Ahafo is found in the competition with the Ashanti Region. Even so, the Ahafo part of that region belongs to the Ashantis. So where is the villager in the Ashanti?

Proud, Illiterate, Villager - All Too Good!

So then, if the Ashanti, after all the above facts, can still be branded proud, illiterate and villager, then we can conclude that it is virtuous and good in every sense to be proud, illiterate, and a villager as well. If the connotations of these words do not reflect the facts about the Ashanti, then let us stop those name callings, or else, we (anti-Ashantis) will be seen as just empty vessels, clapping and churning for undeserved attention.

Is Anti-Ashantism Justified?

The straightaway and naked answer is big ‘No’. In fact, the origin of anti-Ashantism is ‘sheer baseless jealousy’. The truth may hurt so bad, and might even increase our hatred for them, however, it is vital we recognized and face it, if we are to uproot for good this ‘hatred from the bone’.

Typically, the chiefs among us anti-Ashantis are those who have barely had any interaction with the Ashantis. Some of us has never lived in the Ashanti region or had any significant interaction with the typical Ashanti. I say, the typical Ashanti because there a few of us who have had some once-off nasty encounter in some way with one of the few Ashanti black sheep. These black sheep are those who either ride on the hard won respect and good reputation of their ancestry to actively look down on others or misapply their home-thought shrewdness and ingenuity to take advantage of others. These few bad-nuts, the writer takes cognizance of them, however, ‘ekro bia mensah wo mu’, thus we would not be legitimate if we should stereotype the Ashantis by those few wayward ones. Those Ashantis should really be ashamed of themselves! Shame, woho feree!

Two, many of us Ashanti-haters are their very closest cousins. Some of us are from the Brong/Ahafo region. The people in this region share in the good fortunes of the Ashanti people more that any other region, partly because of proximity. The economic activities of Brong/Ahafo are sustained by the Ashanti Region by way of favorable open market and available credit facilities.Many Brongs stock their shops with credited manufactured goods from Ashanti entrepreneurs, and sell the bulk of their Agricultural produces on the Ashanti market – true or false, ‘true’, so why the hatred?

Three, the Ashanti-haters from the Akyem, Kwawu stock: What really is the difference between you and the Ashantis? Are you not Ashantis when it suits you? You bask in the glory of the Ashantis – and there is nothing wrong with that, because I believe you people are from the same grandparents. However, the trouble is, you step aside and join other Ashantis accusers when it hurts to be an Ashanti. Even though you sin in the name of the Ashantis, like my college mate George Boamah of Enchico used to do against me because we shared the same surname; and he was notorious for law-breaking and I for outspokenness; so he would commit all the misdemeanors, and then turn around and accuse me of ‘spoiling’ (turnishing) his name. Same with you, Akyem and Kwawu Ashanti-haters, because not even the Ashantiman himself is able to decipher you, save to say the Northerner or the Ga or the Ewe man; you must be ashamed of your hypocrisy and treachery against your own brothers! Please, it is not too late; we can turn a new leaf.

Now the Ga and the Ewe man, what bones have you to pick with the Ashantiman? You are not legitimate for inter-cousinic petty jealousy, like the Kwawus and the Akyems, nor justified by historical friction, like the Fantis – so what is it that is bothering you, you Ga and Ewe Ashanti-haters? I will tell you without mincing words, your bother. You see, Ladies and Gentlemen, and all fellow Ghanaians, what I’m doing here is trying to crash tribalism, divisions and hatred once and for all for the common good of all the children of our beloved motherland; and for that matter I want us to deal with this fast growing national canker without pulling any punches. In this vein we will call red, red and green, green without the culture of any sugar-coated and sweep-under-the-bed diplomacies, as the saying goes: ‘Kokoram anfere se obebu wo hwene agumu a enfere se wode aduro beta ne so’.

Now, this is the trouble of the Ga and Ewe Ashanti-haters and some very few Northerner Ashanti-haters. Let’s rewind back to the days before the advent of the Rawlings-factor on the Ghanaian political scene. There was not a speck of friction between the Ewe or Ga man and the Ashanti, save to say, the Northerner and the Ashanti. In fact, the whole country has never seen anti-Ashantism or any tribal hatred of any sort among the tribes of Ghana. Until the advent of the Rawlings-factor on the scene, we did not suffer from this hatred filled tribalism that we are experiencing now. If it were not so, how would the Ashantis and their other Akan cousins have made the coups, rescued and installed Rawlings and shield and supported him, an Ewe, as the head of state. Would the hatred and suspicion expressed currently towards Ashantis by Ewes, as it stands now, have allowed them to do what they did? Not in millions years to come! Therefore, there was not such a things as it is now.

Now, Rawlings has always suffered from inferiority complex, which metamorphosed into anger and hatred towards the Ashantis, who has been prominent in the Ghanaian society. I believe strongly that, that was the reason why he married an Ashanti royal, to offset his inferiority complex. Now, let us answer this vital question: ‘If Ashantis are so bad and evil, as Rawlings has made many to believe now, why would Saint Rawlings want any thing to do with the very daughter of evil (Nana Yaa)? After all what has light got to do with darkness or righteousness with evil (2Co 6:14)? Hypocrisy at its best!. Even after the royal Ashanti fraternalisation, his inferiority disease was not healed, because that disease is in the mind, so it does not help just by robbing skins without robbing minds as well. So he got even more frustrated.

Now the Ashant/Akan-Rawlings-King-Makers mistook Jerry’s frustration and anger, issuing from this inferiority complex, and the venting of it vociferously ( all against the Ashantis and the Akan cousins in power, and Ashantis in general), ( and remember he was smoking ‘weeds’ as well by then, so that boosted his chest), for an act of bravery, (another trait that the Ashantis worship: sorry, be careful next time, not all bravados are bravery).Now, make no mistake; Rawlings is very smart ( ‘wotan okwaduo a na weyi ne mmereka’) with evil intents! So when he was enthroned, under the guise of justice and equality, he stated to deal the unsuspecting Ashantis blows below the belt by confiscating their assets. Tell me, Ladies and Gentlemen; is it sin to be prosperous? Has not the Ashantis, even before Ghana always been rich? What is the meaning of the accolade of the King ‘ote kokoosuo’? The wealth of the Ashanti man does not issue from national coffers – we all know this truth! All don’t we accuse them for industriousness at the expense of bookworming?

Bitter for nothing, Rawlings would not stop just at the financial crippling of the Ashantis, but has since whipped anti-Ashantism, capitalizing on the innocence of the minority tribes, by whipping tribal ego-centricism and ethnocentrism into them; and then offering himself as their champion, who would lead them in these modern times to counter an ancient Ashanti supremacy. And when they achieve this, Paradise would be theirs. Ladies and Gentlemen, where is the Promised Land of the Junior Jesus? After all, kwatrekwa se obema wo ntoma a, tie ne din. But, sadly to say, after all those deceit we still foolhardily sing: JJ, JJ, JJ… Well, let’s sing until boom!!! Nyame kokotwea, may God forbid it’!!! And now this make-believe Ashanti-evil monterism has become a devouring monster for you and me today – the Ashanti, the Nzema, the Fanti, the Ewe, the Ga, the Dagomba, the Konkomba, the Nanumba ( the war between these two brothers is the typical result of Rawlings’ tribalistic divide and rule architect; do I lie?), the Moshi, the Frafra, the Brong, I mean all Ghanaians, because we share a common destiny; we all stand together or we all fall together – make no mistake! The thing is, why can we for once do what the Rawlings are doing, by not only co-existing as two people from Ashanti and Ewe heritages, but more so, have found it profitable to mould into one flesh as husband and wife. Are we blind, can’t we see they are fooling us? They deny us of what they have! Wake up Ghana, and slumber no more!!!

Having said that, however, if any tribe should have a speck of legitimacy to hate the Ashantis, it should have been the Fantis, because of their historical past, and sometime ago, Ashantis teasing them on the past; but thank God, they don’t, because they know and understand the Ashantis even more than Northern brothers do, that they are not bad people. They were sometime ago just a little suspicious in response to the Ashanti-teasers, but now they know there is no cause for alarm.

So therefore, the Ashanti-evil monsterism is a farce, a calculated evil agendum by the devil through his advocates against the good people of Ghana as a whole. The Ashantis are just a factor in the whole plot against mother Ghana.

What Do We Do With The Ashantis?

Well, say, even if my first proposal of bulldozing them into the sea were achievable, what would Ghana stand to gain with both the physical and nominal annihilation of the Ashantis? Absolutely nothing! Have you ever considered what would befall the rest of us if those Ashantis vanished from Ghana, not only with their international strong reputation and their expertise, but the land they occupy as well? Well if you haven’t, I have: Ghana would be a faceless broke country. The Ashanti is to Ghana even as the English is to UK. The UK is at least made up of the Scot, the Gaelic, the Cornish, the Irish, the Welsh and the English. If you want to understand the UK dynamics, then the English have been like the Ashantis have to the rest of Ghana. What can we learn from our colonial masters, even if we hate them sometime for that? The rest of the UK has rallied with the might and ingenuity of the English to create the Paradise that today almost every Ghanaian, at least dream, to visit one day. Coincidently, the British and Ghanaian societies share many common striking dynamics. Like the Royal kingdom, the Ashanti kingdom was never meant for the subservient subjection of other tribes under the Ashantis. The kingdom was born out of political and economic expediency. Have you ever considered the mystery of how a few bunch (even today how many are they – they can’t be more than a little more over 2 million), of Ashantis could control so many tribes extending outside of the present Ghana? Simple, they never made them subservient or feel inferior, as the Ashanti pride is misconstrued. Never! The vessels states would have bunched up and annihilate them. You see, not only are they ingenuous and enterprising, but are fast learners and fair people. They learned never to oppress other people from the mistake of the Denkyiras (their other close cousins), whose oppression led them to revolt against them and then sailed to the top. Today, Ladies and Gentlemen, if Ghana could even revert back to the then Ashantis Kingdom of those centuries, Ghana would be a million times better of than what we can, maybe, achieve in another 50 years to come. Had the British not interrupted the Ashanti Kingdom, we would have been trillion times prosperous today with no tribalism! The UK is the example for all to see about the benefit of staying and building in harmony, even if some people seem to be taking the leadership role. It is natural, it is God ordained that even when only two people meet, one should lead and the other co-operate for common success. ‘ Anyansafou mienu twa ebe a ewo ntem’ – if all were leaders what a confused world our planet would be! Ladies and Gentlemen, Otumfou, Ga-Mantse, Yaa Naa, Togue and the rest: they are all yours together for the taking, why then do you create factions (1 Corinthians 1:12; 3:22)?

Ladies and Gentlemen: and all fellow Ghanaians, the elderly and the young ones, if after all this truthful insights,if someone still harbors any legitimate grievances against the Ashantis in general, let that brother or sister approach the Golden Stool to present his/her grievance, because I truly believe that Otumfou and Nananom are ready to listen and give the appropriate redress if complain is legitimate. You can also as well channel your grievance through your respective traditional authorities to be forwarded. Likewise, those Ashantis, who hate other tribes for any reason, must endeavor to forgive and forget, for Jesus asked all of us, to treat others as we want ourselves to be treated - with love.

The writer is a man of God, whose mandate is to seek the common good, especially of all Ghanaians, further, Africans, and the world at large. I have no intention to put any people down or exalt others. My quest has been to present the bare facts in order to arrive at a genuine reconciliation for the common wealth of all Ghanaians. If however, because of the dynamics or the limitations of the human language in general, I unwittingly have offended any body or people, I humbly apologize and seek forgiveness from the offended. May the Almighty God of Host, in whom our fathers have believed, trusted and served and passed the knowledge of Him to us, give you all peace, understanding and prosperity. And now to Him, whom all praise and honor is due, may His name be glorified by all. And all Ghana say: Amen!