The Fante Vote: A Paradigm For The New Ghana ?

Like most Ghanaians I feel rightfully proud and grateful that after so many years of wandering in the political wilderness freighted with seemingly incessant military coups and other impediments to our advancement as a prosperous nation, we have now taken very solid steps towards true representative democracy. I salute all my fellow countrymen and women for a job well done. I hasten to add that we have just began this journey and while we congratulate ourselves and enjoy our hard-won successes, we ought not to be so self-absorbed as to neglect the hard road we must still travel to fully realize the dreams of our founding fathers ? that of an economically successful and vibrant democracy in which people from all regions of the nation have an equal place at the table. A Ghana that is indeed the ?black star? of Africa and a beacon to people of African descent all over the world.

I am happy that as a people we can openly express our opinions without fear of retribution from any corner. This is a true mark of a maturing political society. I have read with interest some of the commentary in this forum regarding the role of the ?Fante vote? in the twice unsuccessful candidacy of Prof. Atta-Mills to the supreme magistracy of our nation. Some for their own rather self-serving purposes have gone so far as to label all the people of Mfantsiman as ?traitors? for not casting a solid monolithic block of votes for their ?home boy?. Furthermore, Fantis have been called ?white men?, lacking in initiative, self-motivation and without ken of our own tribal self-interest; traits that we have also been advised could be inculcated or genetically transferred if we would just marry into other tribes ( I have told my three children that it would not be a problem for me if they decide to marry into the Inuit Eskimo tribe of Alaska or any other aboriginal tribe across the globe if they believe that would ensure their individual future happiness. If it all works out, Ghana could perhaps finally acquire the much needed technologies inherent in igloo building. LOL!!).

As a Fante whose ancestral roots stretches the length and breadth of the land of the ancient triumvirate of OBURUMANKUMA, ODAPAGYAN na OSUN, from Gomoa, Mankessim, Anomabu, Abura, Agona, Yamoransa, Oguaa, Edina (Elmina) and Ampenyi all the way to Takoradi in Ahanta-Nzima land, I must emphatically reject this neanderthal mentality that has long militated against the unity and progress of Ghana. No, the Fantis are not ?traitors? to their own because we have individually and collectively made the intelligent and deliberate decision to submerge our own narrow tribal interests to the greater good of that beautiful and majestic yet diverse aggregation known as the people of Ghana. Yes, I am a Fante but above all I am a GHANAIAN from the land of ebibrifo ?AFRICA.

Some have said that the Fante ought to wake up because they are not getting their fair share of the national cake. I would rather that we live in a peaceful country where there is no need for the tribes to make like a pack of ravenous hyenas ravaging the national treasury just to build gaudy but ultimately useless skyscrapers in the disparate regional capitals through massive corruption and peculation. Haven?t we learned anything from what is happening around us in places like Cote d?Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Congo and else where ?. The people of Laramie, Wyoming do not feel any less American because there are no towering monuments to vanity, multiple lane freeways and noxious air pollution in their city from over development such as obtain in other parts of the United States. Nor do I see Vice-President Dick Cheney funneling massive projects to that part of the United States. It would appear to me that some Ghanaians, in spite of their seemingly erudite pronouncements still hew to the archaic, unprogressive and destructive prejudices of times gone by. I applaud all who delight in their ethnic identity. I, for one most certainly delight in being a child of Mfantsiman. Yet, I especially cherish the Ghana in which I grew up as a ?Tadiboy? with other kids who had names like Amegago, Ampaabeng, Arhin, DuBois, Armah, Abban, Banasco-Sackey, Mills-Odoi, Amadhu, Tanko, Kiki Gyan(rest his soul), Orere, Igwe, Olatunde(Nigeria), Nimleh, Jackson-Pierce, Wuri(Liberia), Mubarak(Lebanon), Boadu-Quaye, Essilfie, Papafio, Agbemafle, Amega, Lafia, Lasisi, etc. All our parents came from places other than the Ahanta-Nzima land of the western region and yet we all found there a hospitable and nurturing community in which one?s ethnicity was of minimal import. I was elementary schooled in Takoradi, went to preparatory school in Kumasi and secondary school in Cape Coast. Long vacs, I invariably spent at Legon-Accra or with my relatives in Mankessim, Anomabu in the central region.

The late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah could have by fiat moved the capital of Ghana to Axim in his home region or at the very least funneled massive amounts of money there but he did no such thing. He was all about Ghana. I have never heard an Ahanta or an Nzima complain that Nkrumah was a fool or a traitor for not ?taking care of his own people?. Unless we cease and desist from this myopic and destructive way of looking at things, ours will prove to be a long journey of fits and starts to no where. Let us work hard together so that the collective sacrifices of Aggrey, Casley-Hayford, Nkrumah, Danquah, Botsio, Gbedemah et al will bear fruit now and forever. Let us stop the ?politics of the stomach? whereby people feel an entitlement to rule in order to pig out at the national trough. We all ought to be about Ghana even if sometimes we have to take the painful step of rejecting one of ?our own?. Tennesseans rejected their native son Albert Gore, Jr. for the Presidency of the United States in 2002. Last I heard, Tennessee is still very much in the American union and nobody has taken away their federal highway improvement funds or any other such dispensations.

Professor Mills is a grand man and an exemplar of accomplishment any where in the world. Yet, for a myriad of reasons known only to themselves (and they have every right to their reasons) Ghanaians opted not to elevate him to the highest office of the land. He has served Ghana admirably in many other capacities and for this we are in his debt. No tribe has a God-given entitlement to the presidency. For the Fante, there are many capable young lions like Dr. Kwesi Botchwey and Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom waiting in the wings. The criteria ought to be one?s qualification, preparation and the selflessness to serve the interests of all Ghanaians and not only that of just one parochial section. No, the Fante are not stupid. Believe me, Fantis enjoy and aspire to wealth as much as the next person. However, some of us have decided that illusory wealth born of instability, predation and violence is a poor coin indeed to recompense the sacrifices of those who fought and died to make Ghana a reality. All of us (regardless of ethnicity) ought to be about Ghana, freedom, peace, justice and prosperity ? all of the inalienable rights that God Almighty has so abundantly bestowed upon our people.

Afrehyia Pa and God Bless

John Ekow Bedu Woode
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.