To where did this spirit flee?

History is written so that we may not repeat the abominations of yesterday and so that society will abort evil before it is fully formed in the womb.  

But I love history for one positive reason: so that the present generation and generations unborn may learn to emulate heroes and repeat good deeds.

Has greed always been part of the Ghanaian character? Once upon a time, from independence through the Second Republic, we could identify a few crooks with traces of 419. Today, 419 has become our ID.

This article is born of a creeping worry that as a country, we are sinking in morality and bravery; that we are now better known for greed and dishonesty.

How did we cultivate this national character that lacks integrity?

Why have we become so desperate for money to the point where, for the politician, the only reason for initiating public infrastructure is so that there will be a 10 per cent -30 per cent kickback to build private mansions and ride in fleets of the latest make of cars? 

We must say no to this new Ghanaian ID.

Oral history talks gloriously about the Anlos of the present-day Volta Region.

The story of their escape from tyranny in Notsie, a walled community in Togo, is repeated year after year through the celebration of Hogbetsotso festival.

Indeed, owners of that history and academics point out that even that story has been watered down.

It is being told today without a very important detail. What is not emphasised is how the people managed to get out of the walled town. 

The wall was made of mud but it was thick.

To create a hole in the wall without attracting suspicion, the women were instructed to pour all their wastewater on one particular spot in the wall.

Over time the spot became soft, thereby allowing the townspeople to break through and escape. 

This is not a deed of a brainless people!

Aidoohene Blay Chinbuah, in his book, ‘Ghana’s Pride and Glory’, devotes a chapter to “Governor Asamani”, the 17th century Gold Coast man from Akwamu who became a governor of the Christiansborg Castle for one year.

Asamani was a merchant who traded with Europeans in the Christiansborg Castle built by the Danes. He bought guns, clothes and spirits from them and sold them gold, pepper, ivory and diamonds, but his one ambition was to stop the slave trade.

Chinbuah records that in 1693 the Danish residents in the Castle reduced considerably due to an outbreak of a strange disease.

Asamani called on the Danish Governor in the Castle and sympathised with him on the deaths of his citizens. He used the visit to ask the Governor to sell the Akwamus a large quantity of firearms.

When the Governor agreed, Asamani brought a considerable number of Akwamus to the Castle on the pretext of coming to purchase the firearms.

Having been sold the firearms, Asamani requested for gunpowder “to test the arms”, a request that was not unusual.

With the arms and ammunition, including bullets which they had brought with them from Akwamu, they fought and overpowered the Danes.

The Governor escaped by jumping through a window. 

Asamani, now the Governor, hoisted the Akwamu flag on the Castle to signify the take-over.

The first thing he did was to abolish the slave trade.

He held the governorship for one year and may have continued his occupation of the Castle but the Danes, in 1694, went begging through Akwamuhene. Aidoohene says “It was only after the payment of an undisclosed amount of money, believed to be in some thousands of pounds, that Asamani left the castle, with the keys which he surrendered to the Akwamuhene”.

What a nationalist! What heroism! If he was crafty, his craftiness was actuated by the common good. The South African word, “ubuntu”, had always been in our vocabulary.

Ubuntu

How many Ghanaians, including Ashantis, are aware of the history of the present Manhyia Palace?

It is history worth repeating if only to demonstrate national pride and the resilience of the African spirit.

Here is the story. Upon the return of King Prempeh I from exile in Seychelles, he did not live in a palace because he was deemed destooled and, therefore, a private citizen.  Upon the restoration of the Ashanti Confederacy after the referendum in 1935, a new Asantehene occupied the throne.

The British built a palace at the present location of Manhyia as a gift to the Ashanti.

Now read this: The Ashantis rejected the gift, insisting that they would pay for the palace. Indeed, history lover Frank Apeagyei says that Prempeh II refused to occupy the palace until they received an invoice from the British and paid for the palace.

The important point about the Yaa Asantewaa War is that if this woman had not declared war and fought, the British would have succeeded in taking away the Golden Stool.  

What a spirit! But whither has this spirit fled?

The writer is Executive Director,
Centre for Communication
and Culture.
E-mail: ashonenimil@gmail.com