The Ewe Factor In The Political Discourse Of Ghana

After every election cycle, there are accusations and counter accusations as to which part of the country voted ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ Over the years two regions have been penciled down as major culprits-Asante and Volta. Volta, without a doubt would always stick to the party that their own son formed and Asante the UP tradition.

Let me digress here: The beating meted to Dr. Ohene (Elizabeth Ohene’s brother) is beyond comprehension, in my opinion. I stand corrected, but I do not think that there is any other part of Ghana where an indigene will be subjected to such barbarism just because the individual is a supporter of the opposing party (or maybe there are). I expect the Ewe cabal on ‘ghanaweb’ and elsewhere to come charging from all angles but that’s ok. I have had enough of this hypocrisy and I have decided to speak out. We can always disagree and I have no problem with that, but as long as I have breath, I will state my position, defend whatever I say (or write) and respond appropriately to all who ‘attack.’ I know some of them will go back to the CPP/UP drift and throw charges and allegations around but I am ready for that too. There are a whole lot of issues to be discussed under this title and I will be dealing with them one after the other, with time.

In this article I want to make this statement and that is: the ‘refusal’ of the people of the Volta region to vote for Akufo-Addo has nothing to do with the man himself or even J.A. Kufuor. Ewes will first of all vote for the Ewe candidate. In the absence of an Ewe candidate, they will vote for the non-Akan candidate. In the rather peculiar situation where all candidates happen to be Akans, then they will vote for the non-Asante/Akyem candidate. IT IS THAT SIMPLE!!! Let those who disagree come up with concrete evidence proving otherwise. I will broadly touch on certain events today and then later I will narrow them down and make the link to what has been happening in Ghana for some time now and continues to happen.

Many years ago a friend of mine (an Asante) hired an Ewe woman as his secretary. After a year of service, the lady walked into the office of this man to make the most astonishing revelation. She told him that she’s been unable to identify a basis to hate him. ‘Hate me’? he asked. She then went ahead to tell him that right from infancy, they (Ewes) are told to dislike the Akan and hate the Asante in particular. Now this woman was a Christian and so she claimed she couldn’t deal with it any longer, especially when this man had been so good to her. Now those who would want to call the woman a liar can go ahead. Those who may want to say that this applied only to her family may also do so. The fact is that this event took place and I can provide dates and names (of course under the appropriate forum). Again, events that have happened in our dear country certainly do not do anything to disprove this woman’s assertion!!

Here is another one: Another friend (again from Asante) decides to go to school in the Volta region-Peki Training College. This is many years ago. For the entire period that he spent there, he was constantly ‘harassed’ for the simple reason that he chose to attend Peki Training whilst he could have gone to Wesley College in Kumasi. Anytime he had any grievance, the response from the officials was this: didn’t he see Wesco, in Kumasi, before he decided to come to Peki. Now tell me, how does that work for national cohesion?

Recently the issue of Togbe Afede and President Atta Mills’ transition team has come up. As usual, there has not been a single word of disagreement from the Volta region nor from any member of the NDC. This reminds me of another point. You will never hear any dissent from NDC (Ewe) members against any party policy. It never happened under Rawlings and it has still not happened. Mind you, the Okudzetos and the Kakraba-Quarshies, who were challenging Rawlings at the time did not belong the (P)NDC. If J.A. Kufuor had appointed Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin to any such body, we all know the first group of people who would have jumped to fight it. ‘Miawo dede’ at its best!!! The constitution is quite explicit on this issue and experts on the matter have already commented so I do not intend to belabor the point, but I just have to say that the silence on this issue is deafening!!

Remember when Osafo-Marfo called out J.A. Kufuor on the issue of the last-minute salary increases? What about Dan Botwe’s public outrage at the retirement package for the executive? These are some of the reasons why the NPP will always be a more democratic one than any other. The UP tradition has always had a rich tradition of freedom of speech and objectivity. And when it comes to the Asante region, I don’t know of any other region that opposed Kutu Akyeampon’s UNIGOV idea more, even though he was a son of the area. I will certainly be back with more; I will discuss the ‘miawo dede’ philosophy, the ‘proposed’ Ewe hegemony across the coasts of Ghana, Togo and Benin, and I will also discuss the four(4) ‘cardinal’ points with which they intend to achieve this goal.

By the way, I do believe in full disclosure and I will expect all those who may want to join the discussion to fully disclose their backgrounds and identity. I am ‘mixed’ breed-one half from the Akwapim mountains and the other from Ga. I schooled in Kumasi and also lived there for some years.

Yaw Opare-Asamoa oasamoa@gmail.com