My Dear Wofa Yaw,
Why is it that anytime you confide in people whom you trust, they come out to expose you? You seem to have surrendered yourself with people you trust but it is obvious, they do not like you. Closed door issues are essentially based on loyalty and trust. There are lots of things people say, people in leadership position, be it religion, politics and traditional, among others, that if they are put out in the open, they could wreak havoc and create lots of conflicts and divisions in society. Fortunately, these things do not come out and so, as it is said, the beat goes on and peace and harmony continue to prevail.
In your case, Wofa, it looks like whatever you say your own trusted friends bring it to the public. And the result is that you are put in a position where even those who are not fit to buckle your sandals, could speak anyhow about you.
Wofa, I will not in any way, dispute the role Sir Nana Ofori-Atta I played in politics of the Gold Coast. In 1924, as a leader of the Africa members of the Legislative Council, he supported the second petition from the Asante chiefs to the Colonial Secretary for the return of King Prempeh I which was successful, under Sir Gordon Guggisberg. In 1934, Sir Nana Ofori-Atta I led a Gold Coast Delegation to London to petition the British Parliament for official majority of Africans on the legislative council, permanent African representative on the Governor’s executive council and eligibility for non-chiefs to be provincial members of the executive council.
Sir Nana Ofori Atta I, played a lead role in putting up structures that would give more representation of indigenes in the affairs of the Gold Coast, but that cannot be said that he played a leading role in the fight for independence, as you wanted to portray, Wofa.
Wofa let me tell you about what I know about Sir Nana Ofori-Atta I. He was the brother of Dr. J.B. Danquah. He was the father of Adeline Akufo-Addo, William Ofori-Atta and Dr. Jones Ofori Atta. He was the grandfather of H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Ken Ofori-Atta, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin II, and Samuel Atta Akyea. I stand to be corrected.
The traditional leaders, who can be said, to have gingered up efforts towards the fight for independence, will include Nii Kwabena Bone III, Osu Mantse and a prosperous business man and Nana Kobina Nketsia, Paramount Chief Essikado Traditional Area. Nii Bone III, organized a boycott of goods and services of expatriates in Accra, from January 26, 1948 to February 28, 1948, and this spreadto other towns and cities, like Nsawam, Koforidua, Nkawkaw and Kumasi.
What really shook the colonial administration was the demonstration of the ex-service men on February 28, 1948 which led to the shooting and killing of Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey. This sparked off the Accra Riots and it woke the British administration up, out of the slumber of complacency and shattered the myth that the Gold Coast was a model colony whose people were perfectly content to remain under colonial rule.
It was these riots which orchestrated the high demand for independence and the UGCC, even though played no role in the events, became heroes, nationwide, especially when the members, who later became known as the Big Six, were arrested and jailed for eight weeks.
Wofa, for you not to acknowledge, Nii Kwabena Bone III who sparked the flame and Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey, none of them Akyems, whose blood fuel the flame, is to say, with due apology, very mischievous. In total twenty-nine people werekilled, 237 injured and £2 million (almost £74 million today) worth of property were damaged.
Nana Kobina Nketsia, Paramount Chief of Essikado Traditional Area, was the force behind Positive Action in 1950, which crippled the British administration. He organized railway workers and miners in the Western region to go on strike to weaken the economy. He was beaten into coma and jailed with Nkrumah for his action.
Wofa, when we are talking about chiefs in the forefront of the independence struggle, Sir Nana Ofori Atta I, does not come anywhere near Nii Kwabena Bone III and Nana Kobina Nketsia.
Wofa, let me remind you of the people of the Central and Western regions who were in the frontline in the fight for independence. Everything, more or less, begun from these two regions with persons like George Paa Grant, who founded the UGCC and was chairman. There were also R.S. Blay (Co-Vice Chairman of UGCC), R.A. Awoonor Williams (treasurer) and J.W. de Graft Johnson. Others who were not from the Eastern region were Kobina Kessie and John Tsiboe, who happens to be an Asante. And just to chip in, it was someone from the Western region, Kwame Nkrumah who led us into independence.
Wofa, talking about Asantes in the fight for independence, it will be disingenuous on your part to leave out names of Asanteslike John Tsiboe, E.O. Asafu-Adjaye, J.W.K. Appiah and Nana Baffour Osei Akoto.
John Tsiboe and his wife Nancy started the Ashanti Pioneer in Kumasi in 1939. This paper helped a lot in the independence struggle.
Edward Okyere Asafu-Adjaye, the first Asante lawyer, was a member of the Gold Coast delegation that met the British Secretary of the State for the colonies to protest against the Water Works Bill and the Sedition Bill. He, together with Dr J. B. Danquah, played a prominent role in achieving the joint Ashanti Colony Collaboration which resulted in the 1946 Burns Constitution.
J.W.K. Appiah the grandfather of Prof. Kwame Anthony Appiah, was the secretary to the Asante Confederacy Council who received the Youth Conference in Kumasi between April 6-9, 1939, and he addressed the gathering. The Conference was under the patronage of the Asantehene, Nana Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II.
The Youth Conference, which was opened only to corporate bodies and clubs, was founded upon the call of J.B. Danquah for the formation of a national assembly of youth to study the problems facing the country and to think and act together as one people for the good of the country.
As a member of the UP Tradition, you know too well, how important the Asante man, Nana Baffour Osei Akoto, father of Agric minister Dr. Afriyie Akoto, was in the struggle to independence. He founded the National Liberation Movement (NLM) on September, 19 1954, based on four reasons. 1). Asante Region, though the most populous, was allocated only two additional seats (19 to 21), while the Colony had seven more (37 to 44); the North also had seven additional seats (19 to 26) and Trans Volta had five additional seats (8 to 13). This angered the Asantes. 2). The Asante chiefs were not pleased with changes in the new localgovernment system which deprived them of some of their powers and source of wealth. 3). The Asante youth in the CPP were dissatisfied with and disturbed by the dictatorial tendencies and centralisation in their party, and 4). Nkrumah broke a campaign promise he made to cocoa farmers, when he told them upon winning the elections, he was going to increase a load of cocoa to £5.00. But after winning he lowered it and pegged it at £3 12s, which was less than a third of the world producer price and hedged it over a period of four years.
Nana Baffour Osei Akoto founded the NLM with some CPP youth who had defected from their party. They include Antwi Kusi Anane, E.Y. Baffour, Osei Asibe Mensah, Yaw Kankam, Kusi Ampofo and B.K. Owusu. E.Y Baffour was to be later stabbed to death by CPP’s Twumasi Ankrah, the regional propaganda secretary of the CPP on October 9, 1955 over a political argument. This sparked off the violence in Kumasi.
The NLM was joined by CPP gurus in Asante, like Victor Owusu, R.R. Amponsah and Joe Appiah. Nana Baffour Osei Akoto was a state linguist, traditional ruler and Asante who stood firmly in the struggle for independence, yet you never acknowledged him. And may I remind you that the NLM, an Asante based party, was one of the six political parties which came together to form the United Party, the origin of today’s NPP. May I also remind you that none of those six parties were formed in Akyem or by Akyems. The only one formed in the then Eastern region was the Accra based Ga party, Ga Shifimokpee.
Hon Daniel Dugan
