The Akan Okomfo: a great revolt leader of the slaves of Guyana

The Dutch colony of Berbice in Guyana was one of the destinations for many of the enslaved Africans taken from the west coast of Africa.

One of these slaves was an Akan Okomfo ( fetish priest) Kofi Badu also known as Coffy. Kofi is an Akan name given to a male child born on Friday and his last name Badu means he was the tenth born of his parents.

Coffy was sold to a plantation in Lilienburg where he became a household slave for a cooper( barrel maker). He was owned by a widow.

After several harsh and inhumane treatments of slaves in the Berbice colony and other Dutch colonies, Coffy took it upon himself and organized slaves into military units, after which launched a huge revolt on several plantations.

The rebellion quickly spread out in the regions. In his attack against the Perenom plantation, Cuffy took a 19-year daughter of the plantation owner as a wife after killing and keeping many as his prisoners.

Having conquered the region, Cuffy declared himself the Governor of Berbice. He named another slave friend, Captain Accara who was skillful in military discipline as his deputy in charge of military affairs.

In the attempt of Wolfter Simon, the Governor of Berbice to retake the colony back, Accara attacked his group three times without permission from Coffy. This didn't go down well with Coffy. For he did not want a war with the white but a division of the region. He proposed to keep the interior of the colony with his slave group while the whites keep the coastal regions.

Wolfter delayed in responding to Coffy claiming he had to hear from his leaders in Amsterdam first. Unknowingly to Coffy, the delay was a strategy to mobilize Dutch soldiers from Barbados, Suriname, and Sint Eustatius.

When Coffy got the revelation he ordered his troops to attack the whites but in so doing lost. And the defeat led to a division of the slave forces. Captain Accara became a leader of a new faction and opposed Coffy which led to a civil war among the slaves.

This caused Coffy to commit suicide ending it all on October 1763.

Kofi Badu( Coffy) is now a national hero in Guyana. Republic Days in Guyana had been a day to celebrate the anniversary of the Coffy slave rebellion since 1970.