Tribute to Prof Kofi Awoonor

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Ghana 10 years ago

May Almighty God have mercy on Profesor Awoonor. May he rest in peace.

May Almighty God have mercy on Profesor Awoonor. May he rest in peace.
Joe Turkey 10 years ago

Awoonor never believed in God. He never even believed God exists. He is a Vodoo man. That is his freedom of religion but how can the Almighty God have anything to do with such a man - dead or alive? I wait to see how he said ...
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Awoonor never believed in God. He never even believed God exists. He is a Vodoo man. That is his freedom of religion but how can the Almighty God have anything to do with such a man - dead or alive? I wait to see how he said he should be buried.
Anne 10 years ago

Rest in perfect peace,the God that we ghanaians/africans worship through different forms is the same God we are worshiping through Jesus.

Rest in perfect peace,the God that we ghanaians/africans worship through different forms is the same God we are worshiping through Jesus.
Mends, The Lone Ranger. 10 years ago

May the carcass of this tribal bigot rot in hell till thy kingdom come. This was an educated fool who used his knowledge to preach hate against Akans in general and Asantes in particular. God works in mysterious ways and it's ...
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May the carcass of this tribal bigot rot in hell till thy kingdom come. This was an educated fool who used his knowledge to preach hate against Akans in general and Asantes in particular. God works in mysterious ways and it's no strange that he suffered the same fate he ordered for Afrifa, Acheampong, Yaw Boakye, Akkuffo and many others. May his mortal carcass rot in hell.
Kojo T 10 years ago

His carcass will rot in the grave. That is nature's law. His soul is in heaven . With the maker. He was asled Kofi I gave you brains what did you do He showed God his books and the many talents of his students he developed. I ...
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His carcass will rot in the grave. That is nature's law. His soul is in heaven . With the maker. He was asled Kofi I gave you brains what did you do He showed God his books and the many talents of his students he developed. I gave you a heart and he showed how he loved his Akan step mother and half sisters and brothers . He aid Good faith ful servant Next time I will give you more
Houdini 10 years ago

The trokosis are trying too hard to make Awonoor a distinguished stateman that he was not and the more the write about him, the more he is exposed as a bigot who hated Akans.

Awonoor did not repent about his hatred towards ...
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The trokosis are trying too hard to make Awonoor a distinguished stateman that he was not and the more the write about him, the more he is exposed as a bigot who hated Akans.

Awonoor did not repent about his hatred towards Akans and in death, the Akans also have not forgiven him.

May his soul find peace in the presence of the Almighty God.
APPT 10 years ago

Nobody will ever require Ashanti’s or any kookoase twit to forgive and the Prof does not need people like you; whether dead or alive. Ashanti’s are just out of touch with reality hence will try any means to discredit such ...
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Nobody will ever require Ashanti’s or any kookoase twit to forgive and the Prof does not need people like you; whether dead or alive. Ashanti’s are just out of touch with reality hence will try any means to discredit such a learned, non-corrupt and internationally astute Ghanaian academic. The undisputed truth is that Awonoor is a complete hero whether your mother and father like it or not. He is one of Africa’s most fervent educators, socio-political analysts and a thorough eye opener to all especially to those inward looking, dog chain destined Ghanaian bigots. You want to know whether the man is a scholar or a bigot. Well ask your mother if you still do not have the brains to decipher common sense from dzimapla presentation. So far as some of us are concerned, you are only a fool bent upon making kookophonic noises.
Houdini 10 years ago

When dunderheads like your type start punching keys on your keyboard, the first thing you should realise is that, kookoase is full of Ewe labourers who slave like animals at these kookoase farms.

Awonoor was an educated tr ...
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When dunderheads like your type start punching keys on your keyboard, the first thing you should realise is that, kookoase is full of Ewe labourers who slave like animals at these kookoase farms.

Awonoor was an educated trokosi alright with a ton of intelligence who could have built a bridge of unity between the Ewes and Akans especially the Asantes he hated too much because he saw the Asantes as having economic power he intended taking away. What Awonoor with all his academic laurels didn't realize was that, you can't take away something you didn't give. God blessed the Asantes with economic power and no trokosi smelly skunk like Awonoor, Tsikatas or Rawlings can do anything about it. They tried by seizing Akan businesses, B.A Mensah Tobacco company, Kofi Owusu's KOWUS Mtotors, Siaw TATA Brewery, Appiah Menkah APINO Soap factory, Sarfo Adu Pharmaceuticals and others but it did not stop the Akans. Who God bless, no human can change the equation. Like the Jews, Akans will continue to prosper and the trokosis will live in their jealousies.

You worthless animal with a dead dick that only work on your daughters was raised like a pig and smell like one and that is why you talk about somebody's mother without mincing words. You have an IQ of a rotten egg and not worth my precious time, you smelly trokosi skunk.
C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago

All your lies against Awoonor shall be exposed on this very forum too. His offence was that he didn't take any prisoners when he took on your fathers and uncles of the Matemeho tradition who started this ethnic hounding and ...
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All your lies against Awoonor shall be exposed on this very forum too. His offence was that he didn't take any prisoners when he took on your fathers and uncles of the Matemeho tradition who started this ethnic hounding and demonisation of Ewes in after the 1966 coup, perhaps, encouraged by knowledge of your mentally warped and slave raiding ancestors. But we live in new times! They should have known that the savage slave raiders also got beaten back from Eweland over a century ago!

Andy-K
Houdini 10 years ago

Fuck off with your false Anlo stupid self serving history only you moronic idiot believes in. Awonoor in death has been exposed as an educated bigot and terrorist who died like an infested rabbis dog by people like him with h ...
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Fuck off with your false Anlo stupid self serving history only you moronic idiot believes in. Awonoor in death has been exposed as an educated bigot and terrorist who died like an infested rabbis dog by people like him with hatred in their hearts.

Akans don't give a damn about what Smelly trokosis do but you can't say the same about trokosis. Even the educated and successful trokosis seem to have inferiority complex when they measure themselves against Akans hence this hatred.

You dumb asshole before Awonoor's death swore heaven and earth that Awonoor did not write all those bigoted thoughts in his books. Now that you and your trokosi rabid dogs have been exposed as what you filthy smelly skunks are, you are singing a different tune now.

If my ancestors were slave raiders, the mistake they made was that, they did not sent you stinky cowards back to Agorkoli to deal with you

You fools cannot exist peacefully in any country you found your stupid selves in. In Togo, you have problems with the Kabres. Learn to live with others, you morons who molest your own daughters sexually.
Kojo T 10 years ago

Blah in Hohoe was where you captured soldiers were kept . You could not conquer the Ewes

Blah in Hohoe was where you captured soldiers were kept . You could not conquer the Ewes
THE TRUTH 10 years ago

They came there, and EWES FINISHED THEM OFF. They left their cutlasses behind and RUN OFF. Dzai sika (Leave the knives behind) became Jasikan!!

They came there, and EWES FINISHED THEM OFF. They left their cutlasses behind and RUN OFF. Dzai sika (Leave the knives behind) became Jasikan!!
Yaw Poku,USA 10 years ago

That tribalist, bigot, and evil minded son of a bitch is going right to HELL.

That tribalist, bigot, and evil minded son of a bitch is going right to HELL.
MC 10 years ago

You call yourself Joe Turkey but in actual fact you are just a little fool of a man

You call yourself Joe Turkey but in actual fact you are just a little fool of a man
Kojo T 10 years ago

Before Christianity was voodoo. You guys fight about Muslims and Christians . But both are imported.

Before Christianity was voodoo. You guys fight about Muslims and Christians . But both are imported.
WARD GDX - WE THE PEOPLE 10 years ago

The same path of hate of others he chose is the same path those terrorists chose to serve him his death warrant.

May his soul rest in peace.

The same path of hate of others he chose is the same path those terrorists chose to serve him his death warrant.

May his soul rest in peace.
REST IN PEACE PROF 10 years ago

You fools write and post comments as though the late prof was the only one who perished in the attack. What of the innocent kids, women and men, christians, hindus, budhists, atheists and people of all religions who also died ...
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You fools write and post comments as though the late prof was the only one who perished in the attack. What of the innocent kids, women and men, christians, hindus, budhists, atheists and people of all religions who also died.Could the same be said of them? Reason11
KOFI PAPABI 10 years ago

To Awonoor, the Ewes joining Ghana was like stepping into a chameleon's faeces. Going back to Trans-Volta Togoland was not possible and assimilating into capitalist Ghana wasn't good enough. You can read from his novel "Songs ...
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To Awonoor, the Ewes joining Ghana was like stepping into a chameleon's faeces. Going back to Trans-Volta Togoland was not possible and assimilating into capitalist Ghana wasn't good enough. You can read from his novel "Songs of Sorrow". So this hateful bastard instigated an otherwise naive 32yr old monster to take over Ghana by brute force. He with the TSIKATAS prescribed violent deaths of Akan leaders. You see AKANS were complacent peaceful people. These fools took advantage of this and murdered innocent true Ghanaians. Now the world awaits same fates he jealously gave to others. May the God of our fathers punish the ghost of this hater
THE TRUTH 10 years ago

Who told you Akans were PEACEFUL?
Remember Kotoka? Remember Capt Borkloe? Remember Capt Avevor? Who the FUCK do you think murdered them? And why did they Spare Afrifa? Why do you Ashantis LOVE to tell TWISTED TRUTHS? Wasnt ...
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Who told you Akans were PEACEFUL?
Remember Kotoka? Remember Capt Borkloe? Remember Capt Avevor? Who the FUCK do you think murdered them? And why did they Spare Afrifa? Why do you Ashantis LOVE to tell TWISTED TRUTHS? Wasnt Ewes among those killed durinhg JJs Coup? And where the FUCK was Boakye Dazan, an AKAN when JJ was killind only Akans? And was Uthika and Amedumey Akans?

GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE.
princewilly@ymail.com 10 years ago

MANY EWE PRESIDENTIAL GUARDS AT THE FLAGSTAFF HOUSE WERE KILLED ALSO.
I KNOW CAPTAIN BORKLOE AND CAPTAIN AVEVOR.THEY WERE KILLED DURING THE ABORTIVE COUP IN 1967.

MANY EWE PRESIDENTIAL GUARDS AT THE FLAGSTAFF HOUSE WERE KILLED ALSO.
I KNOW CAPTAIN BORKLOE AND CAPTAIN AVEVOR.THEY WERE KILLED DURING THE ABORTIVE COUP IN 1967.
painkiller 10 years ago

As usual, a voice of reason; a balanced perspective.

As usual, a voice of reason; a balanced perspective.
Houdini 10 years ago

Idiot, who murdered Kotoka and those trokosis you have mentioned? Lt. Arthur who peesonally murdered Kotoka was not Akan. Who told you they spares Afrifa? Will you also say that they spared General Ankrah Because he too was a ...
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Idiot, who murdered Kotoka and those trokosis you have mentioned? Lt. Arthur who peesonally murdered Kotoka was not Akan. Who told you they spares Afrifa? Will you also say that they spared General Ankrah Because he too was an "Akan"?

Stop being a fool and tell the truth how these people died because some Akan Officers too died during Arthur's abortive coup to revenge Nkrumah's removal from power.

Afrifa and Ankra escaped from death through sheer luck and not because they have anything to do with Kotoka's death. What you don't know is that, Afrifa's wife was related to Kotoka.
THE TRUTH 10 years ago

Arthur not Akan? Yeboah not Akan? Ask Nana the Dwarf what YEN AKNAFUO -All DIE BE DIE is all about.

Arthur not Akan? Yeboah not Akan? Ask Nana the Dwarf what YEN AKNAFUO -All DIE BE DIE is all about.
Houdini 10 years ago

So the Ewes hate extends to Nzema's too? Yeboah was a Bono and Arthur Nzema. So where did Ewes hatred towards Asantes originate? You a piece of shit not worth anybody's time.

So the Ewes hate extends to Nzema's too? Yeboah was a Bono and Arthur Nzema. So where did Ewes hatred towards Asantes originate? You a piece of shit not worth anybody's time.
THE TRUTH 10 years ago

We Ewes dont hate you.
Most of these FUCKING Ashantis are BAD and Discriminating.
When they need your VOTES it is "Yen Akanfuou" Now that Akanfuo are accused of killing Ewes, You hear "Yeboah was Bono, Athur was Fante/Nzem ...
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We Ewes dont hate you.
Most of these FUCKING Ashantis are BAD and Discriminating.
When they need your VOTES it is "Yen Akanfuou" Now that Akanfuo are accused of killing Ewes, You hear "Yeboah was Bono, Athur was Fante/Nzema." What about OSEI POKU an Asante who was amog the Killers?
EZUAH 10 years ago

SWINE FROM NOWHERE. GO EAT GRASS. AKANS ARE PROIUD SO FUCK OFF TO YOUR EVIL IDOL UNDER YOUR EWE BED

SWINE FROM NOWHERE. GO EAT GRASS. AKANS ARE PROIUD SO FUCK OFF TO YOUR EVIL IDOL UNDER YOUR EWE BED
Mama AmA 10 years ago

Arthur a Fantinot Akan.

Arthur a Fantinot Akan.
Submarine 10 years ago

odwan meeee krowba stibky shit idol worshippers from togo koko lo deka inwardlooking shit

odwan meeee krowba stibky shit idol worshippers from togo koko lo deka inwardlooking shit
Mama AmA 10 years ago

you are so pathetic that anyone who does not agree with you, then it means the person is a togolese. your name befits you so you go into your hide out.

you are so pathetic that anyone who does not agree with you, then it means the person is a togolese. your name befits you so you go into your hide out.
THE TRUTH 10 years ago

Where FUCK were you when Kenedy Agyapong was asking Ashantis to take cutlasses and go after Ewes and Gas?

Where FUCK were you when Kenedy Agyapong was asking Ashantis to take cutlasses and go after Ewes and Gas?
. ...... 10 years ago

Who MURDERED utika and amedume; kofi AWOONOR the crimunal HE will definately rot hell

Who MURDERED utika and amedume; kofi AWOONOR the crimunal HE will definately rot hell
KWESI NYANTAKYE YEBOAH 10 years ago

NO amount of repeated falsehood or lies would result in to truth. the ewes that they killed they should mention first. you like to make noise about your predicaments and difficulties. you love to inflict pains on others, and ...
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NO amount of repeated falsehood or lies would result in to truth. the ewes that they killed they should mention first. you like to make noise about your predicaments and difficulties. you love to inflict pains on others, and not willing to be pained. the world is not that way. lts more boomerang, so whatever you do to others same would come back to you. the akans killed ewes and ewes killed akans is a draw game. no vexation and noise making from akans is needed. period.
THE TRUTH 10 years ago

They now saying CONVENIENTLY "Athur is Fante, Arthur is Nzema, Bono etc" FUCK OFF YOU ASHANTIS!!! FUCK YOU ALL OFF. Why dont I hear "YEN AKAN FUO"? Was Osei Poku and Yeboah not among the KILLERS of Capt Borkloe and Capt Ave ...
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They now saying CONVENIENTLY "Athur is Fante, Arthur is Nzema, Bono etc" FUCK OFF YOU ASHANTIS!!! FUCK YOU ALL OFF. Why dont I hear "YEN AKAN FUO"? Was Osei Poku and Yeboah not among the KILLERS of Capt Borkloe and Capt Avevor?
They are at LEAST GUILTY of "CRIME BY ASSOCIATION" What did they do to stop Kotoka's brutal murder-dismembering his penis whislt alive? What has Capt Borkloe and Capt Avevor done before Yeboah finished them off? Their crime was : They ARE EWES!!!
C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago

THE ETHNIC IMBROGLIO IN GHANA: THE ORIGINS, PART 1

The tribal imbroglio, rather than starting in recent times, has been brewing for a long, long while now. In fact, the roots of the prejudices and the insults we see some r ...
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THE ETHNIC IMBROGLIO IN GHANA: THE ORIGINS, PART 1

The tribal imbroglio, rather than starting in recent times, has been brewing for a long, long while now. In fact, the roots of the prejudices and the insults we see some raining on others date back to pre-colonial times. So, any attempt to understand the worrying phenomenon must address the canker from that era. That is what I intend to do, with special focus on the apparent cleavage between Ewes and Akans (and any others). But now, I’d begin with the colonial times. When you hear the cry of lamentation:
Dza le le leeeeeee!

Me zu kluvi

The road to Kontsiabu

Strewn with gold dusts.

Only those without

in their eyes gold dusts

felt the pangs of hunger and thirst…

then you’d know that the time to narrate the doleful tales of the pre-colonial era, where it all began, has arrived; but you’d get a glimpse now.

Not to waste time apportioning blame, the Akans (and Gas, if I may add them), started these tribal abuse and attacks on Ewes many decades ago; nay, centuries back, as I said earlier. But as mentioned above, I won't delve as yet into the pre-colonial times when it was free for all, with even some Ewe states joining in marauding and plundering other Ewe states for the slave markets of the Gold Coast. I had indeed provided a write up on that sordid era on Ghanaweb’s SIL in the 1990s, which is available. One German businessman with biz connections to Ghana who used to read the nonsense on SIL wrote a private mail to me saying that he was always wondering why Africans sold each other into slavery to Europeans and Arabs; reading my detailed historical account enlightened him on how and why it happened for the first time. That story must be re-told all over Africa in other to understand the roots of the conflicts that bedevilled the continent after independence.

In Ghana, the colonial times modern version started after the WW1 when Anlo, Tongu and Peki migrants from within the Gold Coast and those from the newly acquired TVT from the Germans started moving to the Akan and Ga areas to either fish, farm or seek paid employment. Ewes from Togo and Benin Republic (Dahomey) escaping from French repressive rule came later. Some Ewes, esp. the educated ones, also got jobs with the commercial houses and the colonial administration. Some, such as Gbedema and Nkulenu, started their own private businesses. Soon, they were becoming prosperous in their chosen fields and/or rising up in the ranks wherever they were employed due to the usual hard working nature of most migrants. After all, the far superior German missionary vocational educational set up, compared to the British, had equipped them much better with skills in the crafts and building, such as carpentry and masonry, which were in much demand by the colonial authority and the other natives of the Gold Coast and Asante. That was when trouble began and the attacks started, as far back as the 1930s.

Below is a brief quote from S. Greene about how the Fantes started perceiving Anlo-Ewe fisher folk; a perception or prejudice which is not much different from what permeates the Akan ethnic group as a whole up to today (not only a few bigots on Ghanaweb). Ewes find out to our chagrin or amusement, often as a kid, that that was how our fellow country men and women perceive us. The encounter is therefore a personal story too.

Not much has changed in the prejudiced minds of too many Akans, as we daily witness on Ghanaweb, even though many too have developed over the years an obsession or desire to marry Ewe girls, failure which often brought in its wake stories of tribalism heaped against Ewes. As I told some Akan teacher colleagues in Nigeria, it was the scary and “irrational” Akan “wofa” (uncle) inheritance system, stupid! Horrible stories of how Ewe widows were in particular dispossessed and treated shabbily were enough to dissuade any idea of marriage to even a most love besotted Akan man! It is no wonder that, with the interstate law of inheritance in place, marriage to Akan men has been on the increase.

I know an Ewe from the Peki area who swore that it’d never be possible to change the jaundiced perception of Akans of Ewes from his own experiences attending Mpraeso Teacher Training College, and then teaching at Mpraeso and in Kumasi. He said one particular woman - a cook in the school - they used to go to church with wouldn’t believe that he did not have any “ekpelekpedzi” under their bed! I said it was possible and gave an example of my own experiences in Nigeria. I managed to convince my fellow Akan teachers that I don’t indulge nor believe in those things - juju or voodoo or even any god (white or black), and wouldn’t drink “ogogoro” with them – when there is original Gordon’s gin and lime cordiale to have – and they somehow lost some “respect”, (or was it fear?) for me. They’d say I wasn’t a proper Anloman and fool around with me!

Between 1982-4, when their Anti-Ewe diatribes had reached fever point and they were advocating massacring Ewes as done to the Ibos in Nigeria who they claimed were also allegedly dominating Nigeria in the 1960s, I thought of putting some fear into them by creating some “kporsi” (“see-and-run”) to scare them. Fact is, practically every smart Ewe knows how to scare Akans and Gas even though they don’t have “foko” (anything), as we say in Anlo but I will keep that out of this write up. Good I didn’t do so, otherwise they’d be giving testimonies up to today about what an Anlo teacher did to them in Nigeria – they’d have packed out and run from their rooms on the ground floor of the storey building we were hiring. I “protected” myself practically by chocking the door handle with a chair, as I had seen in movies, before I went to bed, in order to prevent them from making me the first casualty of their let-us-kill-Ewes mania! Funny some of them even became staunch PNDC supporters, only to change their minds again years later when I met some on a visit to Ghana.

Anyway, enough with the digression into the personal narrative and to Sandra Greene.

From p.148 of Sandra Greene I quote:

"Increased Anlo identification with their northern Ewe-speaking neighbours may have also been enhanced by the experience many had while participating in migrant fishing. After World War I, numerous groups of Anlo men and women traveled to other coastal areas, including the Fante area of the Gold Coast, in order to pursue their commercial fishing activities. For many, this was probably the first time they had traveled outside their home area, and/or to a district where they were a distinct linguistic minority. In these locations, they conducted themselves as they had in their own home villages, but those among whom they come to live - often temporarily, just for the fishing season - came to view the Anlos' prosperity with jealousy and suspicion. Stories circulated that associated the Anlo with "blood-curdling" crimes. R.W. Wyllie indicates, for example, that from at least the 1930s "Fanti [children] learned to view the Anlos as thieves, kidnappers, sorcerers, and ritual murderers." The social tensions that accompany these beliefs - and the very fact that these beliefs were held by a non-Ewe speaking people - must have heightened the Anlo's awareness of their linguistic and cultural background and generated some sense of identification with their Ewe-speaking peoples whom they would have encountered in the Gold Coast."

The encounter with the Gold Coasters was enough to turn any Ewe into a paranoid schizophrenic, developed a siege mentality (become “inward-looking”?) and very resentful towards any idea of union with the Gold Coast, not to mention marry an Akan.

As some of you know, the Anlo area through Tongu to the Peki area had been part of the Gold Coast colony proper, effectively from 1874 though the British “bought” and claimed the area from the Danes in 1850; hence the freedom to move to other parts of the Gold Coast and Asante later. Besides, many southern Ewes are descendants of Ga-Adangbe, Elmina and Denkyira fugitives dating back respectively to 1687 when the Akwamus first thrashed the Gas for cutting the “bolobolo” (foreskin) of their prince sent to the Ga Mantse Okai Koi’s court to understudy courtship, and 1700, when the Asantes defeated the Denkyiras and took over Elmina from the Denkyiras. Going back to Ge (Accra) and Sima (Shama) with their new kinsmen was just like returning to the ancestors' land. In fact, it was the descendants of those fugitives who were the first migrants, having maintained links with their ancestral lands during their long period in exile. Reindorf had written about that back and forth movement among the Ga fugitives long ago. That’s how Osu-Anecho came to be founded and how all Ewes got the derogatory epithet “Ayigbe” (Ayi refuse), whether they were descendants of fugitives or not. The “dzulor” bit the Gas added originally referred to the Okai Koi stool regalia which the Ga-Ewes in Togo refused to return to Accra and still claim to be its protectors. Remember the trips with pre-colonial undertones their chiefs made to Ghana when the NPP took over power in 2000?

We read from the December 6, 1919 edition of the West Africa magazine a letter sent to the colonial government of the Gold Coast:
“We PEOPLE of Togoland, descended from two principal countries, Elmina
(Ane) and Accra (Ge), both of the Gold Coast Colony, ask to have British government because it is the government of our fathers, whose customs are our customs, and a British Colony is half-an-hour distant from us.
We ask to have British government because it is the government of our kith and kin, our race and our tribe.
We ask for British government because of our relationship with our people on the west, which must assert itself..” (culled from West Africa 12-16 Dec. 1994)

And so on it went. I can make long comments on the above quotes but suffice it to say that it was the beginning and end of the love affair which started as unification with the Gold Coast movement ending up as the drive to secede from the Gold Coast.

One may wonder why the petitioners did not even acknowledge the Ewes, Dagombas, Konkombas, Akans and the host of other ethnic and tribal groups in Togo who also have their “kith and kin” within the Gold Coast and the Northern Territories. I guess this piece of history may come as a surprise to the ingrates who make a living of always reminding us that Ewes come from Togo, some of whom carried a video to Lome to trace the roots of Fiifii Kwetey there, instead of doing so in Accra; better still, Ayawaso! Well, he said he was from Nogokpo, which rubbed a sore spot for me, but that’s another, story.

THE EWE BACKLASH

By the 1940s, Ewes, Anlos in particular, in the Gold Coast had had enough of the vilification and undeserved demonisation their successes were arousing. The returnee Anes and Ges (Gas), now fused as the Genyi, as Anlos refer to them, through intermarriages, also soon discovered that they were not welcome, or often welcomed with shouts of “Ayigbe dzulor”! Disenchantment set in and secession from Ghana became a far better option. The result was the 1956 plebiscite and the rest is history.

Then come the post Feb 24 1966 coup era, when Busia and his PP turned this traditional vilification of Ewes into a political tool to win the 1969 general elections. It was preceded by an internal struggle within the NLC to share the spoils of office after the coup, which increasingly took an ethnic tone. My own father was a sacrificial victim. An extended quote from Dennis Austin, that great chronicler of Ghana history, captures the gist of it, so here we go:

“A surprising and disagreeable novelty of the election was the extraordinary anti-Ewe sentiment that was express1ed in conversation with many of those who were against Gbedemah and his party. One can explain this strong animus not simply by a dislike of Gbedema’s reappearance in political life but in relations to events after the 1966 coup. Suddenly there were the soldiers and the police, and everyone burst out singing, but when the music died down away it was noticed that the NLC (it seemed) was commanded by minorities: Ewe and Ga. When Ankrah (a Ga), was moved out, and charges were brought over-hastily by Harlley against the Chief of Defence Staff, Michael Otu, the evidence to many was overwhelming. It was all an Ewe plot. Soon Ghana would be run for the benefit of an energetic minority, operating first within the armed forces, and now behind Gbedemah. ‘Appoint an Ewe to a public corporation or to a government department and within a year the entire hierarchy down to the messenger will be an Ewe.’ So the argument ran. And there was always some evidence for it, since the Ewe, deprived of any natural wealth in their own barren region, have been energetic in seizing the opportunities of public employment, including positions in the army and the police, which wealthier communities (like the Akan) did not wish to occupy. In practice, looking through the list of senior officers in government department and the public corporations, the evidence is certainly not clear of any Ewe domination: it could hardly be in view of their number. But a belief does not, of course, have to be true before people hold it fervently.
Now there is an Akan-dominated government of an Akan dominated society. Were I to become, by some improbable chance of fate, leader of the governing party I would be much less apprehensive of my Ewe opponents in front than of the large and expectant following behind. I would be fearful too of the ambitions of those now excluded from power, remembering the Songs of Innocence that:
The strongest poison ever known
Came from Caeser’s laurel crown” (D. Austin 1976:125)

Austin was writing with hindsight about what befell Busia’s regime, overthrown in a coup led by an Asante.

The interested reader is referred to the link on the Internet to read an extended abstract of the book in order to get a fuller understanding of the ethnic imbroglio in Ghana and so be able to compare events from then and now and subsequent analysis.

Dennis Austin - 1976 - Political Science - 199 pages
books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=084190278X...

In Part 2, I intend to examine the hate campaign against the Ewes and the consequences or reactions from the 1970s which led to Kofi Awoonor’s infamous prison book, The Ghana Revolution, which he claimed he wrote in prison when gaoled for helping Brig. Kattah to escape from Ghana. It’d be necessary to focus on the Ghana Army, from its origins and recruitment trends since it is at the crux of the matter.
.
Andy C.Y. Kwawukume, better known as C.Y. Andy-K, is a freethinker, Pan-Africanist and an ardent Nkrumaist.
cyandyk@ymail.com

References:

Dennis Austin (1976): Ghana Observed: Essays on the Politics of a W. African Republic.
Manchester Univ. Press.
Sandra E. Greene (1995): Gender, Ethnicity, and Social Change on the Upper Slave
Coast: A History of the Anlo-Ewe. Heinemann and James Currey
Robert W. Wyllie. “Migrant Anlo Fishing Companies and Socio-Political Change: A
Comparative Study.” Africa, XXXIX, 4 (1969), 396-410.
BEN 10 years ago

Ewe trokosis always blaming others for their own ethnocentric foolishness.

Ewe trokosis always blaming others for their own ethnocentric foolishness.
Agyeman 10 years ago

Why so much vitriol,so much visceral hatred and mud slinging at a departed soul? Yes he was a sinner,as is everyone,but the departed man is in no position to defend himself now.Lets let it go please.

Why so much vitriol,so much visceral hatred and mud slinging at a departed soul? Yes he was a sinner,as is everyone,but the departed man is in no position to defend himself now.Lets let it go please.
TROUBLE-MAKER 10 years ago

Only cowards attack dead people who can`t talk back.I wonder where they were when he was alive and didn`t confronts him.
Prof.Awoonor was sadly at the wrong place and time and met his untimely death which could be his fate. ...
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Only cowards attack dead people who can`t talk back.I wonder where they were when he was alive and didn`t confronts him.
Prof.Awoonor was sadly at the wrong place and time and met his untimely death which could be his fate.
Those insulting him should get themselves prepared for theirs.
Rest in Peace,Prof.
. ...... 10 years ago

KOFI AWOONOR WAS À MAMBER OF PUBLIIC TRABUNAL. WHO SLUGHTERED UNCOUNTABLE GHANAIANS.THESE EWE BOYS REMOVED THE BACK SKIN OF GYAN KESE AND SHOWED TO HIM BEFORE HE WAS MURDERED.À CRIME TALIBAN WILL NOT ATTEMPT.

KOFI AWOONOR WAS À MAMBER OF PUBLIIC TRABUNAL. WHO SLUGHTERED UNCOUNTABLE GHANAIANS.THESE EWE BOYS REMOVED THE BACK SKIN OF GYAN KESE AND SHOWED TO HIM BEFORE HE WAS MURDERED.À CRIME TALIBAN WILL NOT ATTEMPT.
samo jewellery 10 years ago

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. ...... 10 years ago

YOU GO TO HELL AND PLACE AD.HERE IS ABT KOFI AWOONOR THE BIG TIME CRIMINAL WHO KILLED GHANAIANS FOR PERSONAL GAINS.

YOU GO TO HELL AND PLACE AD.HERE IS ABT KOFI AWOONOR THE BIG TIME CRIMINAL WHO KILLED GHANAIANS FOR PERSONAL GAINS.
Bongo Bongo 10 years ago

I did not know you in person, nor did I know of you. May you Rest in Peace. To the family may the Almighty give you strength at this difficult time.

I did not know you in person, nor did I know of you. May you Rest in Peace. To the family may the Almighty give you strength at this difficult time.
KOJOVI 10 years ago

DO YOU MEAN THAT EWE BIGOT PROF. KOFI AWOONOR IS DEAD? IF YES, HMMMM IS GOOD FOR GHANA.

DO YOU MEAN THAT EWE BIGOT PROF. KOFI AWOONOR IS DEAD? IF YES, HMMMM IS GOOD FOR GHANA.
mobutu 10 years ago

God forgive all you haters.

God forgive all you haters.
Emmanuel Komla Agbesi 10 years ago

Death is a necessary end. How it will come our way is not yet known, hence knowing God praying from time to time in critical in our lives. My heartfelt condolenses to the family. May his soul rest with his creator.

Death is a necessary end. How it will come our way is not yet known, hence knowing God praying from time to time in critical in our lives. My heartfelt condolenses to the family. May his soul rest with his creator.

Tribute to Prof Kofi Awoonor

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