Kwahu refers to an
area and group of people that live in Ghana, part of the Twi-speaking Akan
group. The region has been dubbed Asaase
Aban, or the Natural Fortress, in view of its position as the
highest habitable elevation in the country. Kwahu lies in the Eastern Region
of Ghana, on the west shore
of Lake Volta. The region is shared with their fellow Akans: the Akyem and Akuapem,
as well as the Adangbe-Krobos. A significant migrant population from the
Northern and Volta Regions and some indigenous Guans from the bordering Oti and
Brong East Regions live in the Afram Plains area. They work as traders,
farm-hands, fisherfolk, and caretakers in the fertile waterfront 'melting pot'.
History[edit]
The name Kwahu, according to
historians, derives from its myths of origin, "The slave (akoa) died
(wu)," which was based on an ancient prophecy that a slave would die so
the wandering tribe of Akan would know
where to settle. This resonates with the etymology of the Ba-wu-le (Baoulé)
Akans of the Ivory Coast whose Warrior Queen Awura Poku had to sacrifice her
baby in order to cross the Komoe river. The myth was part of the historical
stories of the Agona matriclan, the first paramount lineage of Kwawu, and was
later adopted by the Bretuao-Tena matriclan (Twidan) who later replaced them.
Other historians trace the name Kwahu to the dangers associated with making the
mountainous terrain a habitat as it became known as a destination of no return:
go at your own peril or "ko wu" in the Twi language. This latter
version is thought to have come either from their ancestral people in Mampong
who did not support fragmentation or from enemies who perished in trying to
take fighting to the Kwahu in the treacherous mountains.[citation needed]
The paramount king and the royal
matrilineage of the Kwawu reside at Abene, north of Abetifi towards the Volta.
The strategic location of Abene and a dreaded militia that guarded the route
was led by Akwamu warriors who fiercely repelled attempts by colonial forces to
capture the Omanhene. Till this day, the road from Abetifi to the small enclave
housing the king is plied with some unease, given the stories recounted.
Before their leaders seized upon the
opportunities presented with the Bond of 1844, Kwahu was thus an
integral part of the Ashanti Kingdom, attested by available maps of the period.
Ashanti would wage punitive and protracted wars against fellow Akans including
Denkyira, Akwamu, Akyem, Fanti, Assin but never fought Kwahu. Abetifi (Tena
matriclan) is the head of the Adonten (vanguard). Obo (Aduana, Ada, Amoakade)
is the head of the Nifa (Right Division) Aduamoa (Dwumena, Asona) is the head
of the Benkum (Left Division). Pepease is the head of the Kyidom or rear-guard
division.
As part of the Asante Empire, Kwawu had an Asante emissary, governor or ambassador at Atibie, next
to Mpraeso, of the Ekuona matriclan). To indicate
its independence from Asante in 1888 the Kwawu assassinated the Asante emissary
in Atibe, about the time of the arrival of the Basel missionaries from
Switzerland. Fritz Ramseyer had been granted a few days of rest during a stop
at Kwahu while en route to Kumasi with his captors. He recovered quickly from a
bout of fever while in the mountains. Upon gaining his freedom later from the
Asantehene, he sought permission to build a Christian Mission in Abetifi, thereby
placing the town on the world map and opening the area to vocational and
evangelical opportunities. Although it remains a small town, Abetifi still
draws the reputation of a Center of Excellence in Education with various
institutions from the ground up. A Bernese country house built by Ramseyer,
typical of the Swiss "Oberland" is well-kept and remains a symbol of
early Christian Missionary Zeal. Obo, traditionally pro-Ashanti, led the
opposition to the Swiss.
Until recently, they shunned
political activism and are under-represented in government appointments, in
comparison to other Akan groups such as the Ashanti, Fanti, Brong or Akyem.
Eulogy[edit]
The "h" spelling is the
official spelling from the African Studies Centre, University of Ghana and resembles the pronunciation. The
"h" was put in by Swiss missionaries from Basel, who added the
"h" to ensure that Kwa, the first syllable, was not pronounced as
"eh." The "h" is not separately pronounced in the name. For
Anglo-Germanic speakers, Ku-A-U may be an easier pronunciation
help whilst Franco-Roman natives would say KoU-AoU with
ease.
Education institution[edit]
·
[Nkawkaw Senior High School] Presbyterian University College
·
St Peter's Senior
HIgh School
·
Kwahu Tafo Senior
High School
·
Atibie Nursing and Midwifery training college
·
Kwahu Ridge. Senior High Technical
·
Mpraeso Senior High School
·
St. Paul's Senior High School, Asakraka
·
Kwahu Tafo Senior High School
·
Bepong Senior High School
·
Nkwatia Presbyterian
Senior High School
·
St. Dominic's Senior High School
·
Abetifi Secondary Technical School
·
Abetifi Presbyterian
Senior High School
·
St. Joseph Technical School
·
Amankwakrom Fisheries Agricultural Technical Institute, Afram Plains
·
Donkorkrom Agricultural Senior High
·
Mem-Chemfre Community Senior High School
·
St. Mary`s Vocational and Technical Institute, Afram Plains
·
Maame Krobo Community. Day School,
·
St. Fidelis Senior High and Technical School
·
Fodoa Community Senior High School
Economy[edit]
The Kwahu, an Akan people living on
the eastern border of Ashanti in Ghana, are well known for their business
activities. An enquiry into the reasons for their predominance among the
largest shopkeepers by turnover in Accra traced the history of Kwahu business
activities back to the British-Ashanti War of 1874, when the Kwahu broke away
from the Ashanti Confederacy. The Kwahu trade with the north in slaves was
replaced by the rubber trade, which continued until 1914. Rubber was carried to
the coast for sale, and fish, salt, and imported commodities, notably cloth,
were sold on the return journey north. Other Kwahu activities at this time
included trading in local products and African beads.
The development of cocoa in
south-eastern Ghana provided opportunities for enterprising Kwahu traders to
sell there the imported goods obtained at the coast. Previously itinerant
traders, the Kwahu began to settle for short periods in market towns. In the
1920s, the construction of the railway from Accra to Kumasi, growing road
transportation, and the establishment inland of branches of the European firms
reduced the price differences which had made trading inland so profitable. In
the 1930s the spread of the cocoa disease, swollen shoot, in the hitherto
prosperous south-east, finally turned Kwahu traders' attention to Accra.
Trading remained the most prestigious of Kwahu activities, and young men sought
by whatever means they could to save the necessary capital to establish a shop.[1]
But Kwahu traders very rarely
developed beyond one-man businesses.[2] Profits were
siphoned off into buildings and farms which would provide security for times of
sickness and old age. (In this respect the Kwahu are typical of Ghanaian
entrepreneurs, with some exceptions.) There is little evidence that this
enterprising group of people can provide the new entrepreneurial organization
or capital required by a developing country.
Geography[edit]
Access to Mainland Kwahu begins from
the commercial hub of Nkawkaw (pronounced "In-core-core" for English/
In-kau-kau for German) which is roughly 3 hours drive from the outskirts
of Accra and
approximately 140.9 km in distance. It lies midway in the road journey from
Accra to Kumasi and serves as the gateway to a cluster of smaller towns set
within the hills. Although the region doesn't have a lake or identical weather
fauna, the mountainous profile resembles the Italian region overlooking Lago di
Garda in Lombardy or the surroundings of Interlaken in Switzerland, with
winding roads uphill towards Beatenberg. An aerial view of portions of the
Allegheny Plateau in the United States provides another good description of
Kwahu Country.
Temperatures may trail the normal
readings for Accra and other cities of Ghana by up to 3 points at daytime and
drop further at night, making the weather in Kwahu relatively cooler and more
pleasant. The Afram River collects the major drainage of the Plateau and makes
an impressive 100km journey from Sekyere in Ashanti through Kwahu as a
tributary to join the Volta Lake. Canoe fishing by is big business along the
vast shoreline and beyond the smaller expanse of water stretch, the fertile
grounds of the plains open into a huge agricultural paradise that is
unquestionably one of Ghana's bread baskets.
Driving advice[edit]
First-time drivers are strictly
advised to ensure the roadworthiness of their vehicles, with extra attention
paid to break functions and gear shifts. The steep climb with sharp s-curves is
quite demanding even for experienced drivers. However, there are registered
(PROTOA/GPRTU) cab and lorry drivers for hire at the main Nkawkaw Station who
will safely chauffeur or accompany groups for a small fee.
During the descent from Mpraeso or
Obomeng to Nkawkaw, it is recommended that drivers remain in bottom gear (1st
or 2nd shift positions) at all times until level ground. Be mindful of poor
visibility, especially fog situations at night and in early mornings.
Language and culture[edit]
The term Kwahu also refers to the
variant of Akan language spoken in this region by approximately 1,000,000 native speakers.
Except for a few variations in stress, pronunciation, and syntax, there are no
markers in the dialect of Akan spoken by the Kwahu versus their Ashanti or
Akyem neighbors. Choice of words and names are pronounced closer to Akuapem Twi
as in 1-Mukaase (Kitchen), 2-Afua (a girl's given day name for Friday),
3-Mankani (Cocoyam), etc. but not with the Akuapem tonation or accent. These
three examples can quickly indicate the speaker's origin or source influence:
Ashanti speakers would say Gyaade, Afia and Menkei for 1-3 above
Originally of Ashanti stock, oral
history details the two-phased migration of the Kwahu from the
Sekyere-Efidwase-Mampong ancestral lands through Asante-Akyem Hwidiem to arrive
at Ankaase, which is today near the traditional capital of Abene, before
spreading out on other settlements with clan members from peripheral Akyem and
various parts of the Ashanti heartland. The group that first settled at Abene
was led by (M)Ampong Agyei, who is accepted as the Founder of Kwahu. Historical
material supports this view that connects the Kwahu to kinsmen who built their
capital at Oda.
The fallout with Frimpong Manso,
Chief of Akyem (Oda) triggered a second wave of migration, believed to have
resulted from the refusal of Kwahu to swear an oath of allegiance, making them
de facto subjects, upon arrival at Hwidiem. Unsuccessful incursions by the Oda
Chief Atefa into Kwahu territory on the plateau would subsequently earn him the
title "Okofrobour": one who takes the battle to the mountains. The
jagged escarpment, however, made Kwahu inaccessible, hence the old humor
meme Asaase Aban, signifying a naturally fortified and
indestructible Kwahu Country.
If Ashanti Twi is by and large the
refined language standard, it is appropriate to view Kwahu Twi as the precious
stone from which the jeweler styles a gem. There is a certain purity of
pronunciation, call it crude, with little effort to polish sounds: Kwahu
speakers would opt for "Kawa" (a ring) and not "Kaa",
"Barima" (Man) instead of "Berma" and pronounce
"Oforiwaa" not "Foowaa". Another slight difference is the
preference for full sentences among the Kwahu: "Wo ho te sen?" (How
are you?) in place of the shorter "Ete sen?" in Ashanti; Other
examples are Wo b3 ka s3 / As3 (you might say, looks like); Ye firi Ghana / Ye
fi Ghana (We are from Ghana) and other minor name or word preferences,
pronunciations, sentence length, etc. that usually pass unnoticed.
The Mamponghene, who is next to the
Ashantehene in hierarchy, and the Kwahuhene are historical cousins, hence both
occupy Silver Stools with the salutation Daasebre.
Tourist Attraction[edit]
·
Bruku Shrine - Kwahu Tafo
·
Oku Falls - Bokuruwa
·
The Gaping Rock- Kotoso
·
The Highest Habitable Point in Ghana - Abetifi
·
Oworobong Water Falls - Oworobong
·
Ramseyer Route - Abetifi
·
The Padlock Rock - Akwasiho
·
Nana Adjei Ampong Cave - Abene
·
The Seat of Paramountcy - Abene.[3]
Festivals[edit]
Paragliding Festival[edit]
The Ghana Tourism Authority in an
attempt to promote domestic tourism, launched the Kwahu Easter Paragliding
Festival at Mpraeso in Kwahu in 2005.[4][5]This festival is an
annual event which is held during every Easter in the month of April.[6][7] During the
event, seasoned pilots are invited to participate and thousands of people visit
Odweano Mountain at Kwahu Atibie.[8][9]
Akwasidaekese Festival[edit]
This is celebrated annually as the
last Akwasidae of the year. The festival provides the community to commune and
communicate with their ancestors, take stock of their activities as a people,
plan ahead of coming years and thank God for His protection and provision over
the years.[10]
Tete Wo Bi Kyere Books.
History and facts about Asante kingdom And Ghana
HISTORY OF KWAHU
The present day Kwahus were part of Asante and lived at
Kuntanase. They migrated to the present Kwahu lands, owing to frequent wars in
the then Asante.
During their migration, they did not have any place in mind to settle, but a
habitable place, which could provide a more relative peace.
By and by, they reached the present day Nkawkaw area and then decided to climb
the present day Odweanoma mountain. Inspite of their peaceful orientation,
their enemies were still attacking them.
According to historians, their altitudinal position offered them a great
advantage. They could roll rocks from the top of the mountain to crush their
enemies, who would climb to pursue them. This made them invincible to their
enemies. Almost any group of people that dared to climb the mountain to attack
them died in numbers.
As a result, they were referred to as "kɔ na kɔwufoɔ", which
translates as "the go and die people". That is, they became those you
literally decide to attack and then DIE !!!!.
Kɔ na kɔ wu became shortened as Kɔwu, meaning "GO & DIE"
... AND THAT IS THE SHORT HISTORY
OF KWAHU(KƆWU) OF THE PRESENT DAY GHANA
TYPES OF ART
The Kwahu are well known for the funerary ceramics found by
archaeologists. Woodcarving includes stools, which are recognized as
"seats" of power, and akua
ba (wooden dolls) that are associated with fertility. There
are also extensive traditions of pottery and weaving throughout Akan territory.
Kente cloth, woven on behalf of royalty, has come to symbolize African power
throughout the world.
HISTORY
Kwahu are an Akan people living in southern Ghana. The rise of the
early Akan centralized states can be traced to the 13th century and is likely
related to the opening of trade routes established to move gold throughout the
region. It was not until the end of the 17th century, however, that the grand
Asante Kingdom emerged in the central forest region of Ghana, when several
small states united under the Chief of Kumasi in a move to achieve political
freedom from the Denkyira. The Akan confederacy was dissolved by the British in
1900 and colonized in 1901. Although there is no longer a centralized Akan
confederacy, Akan peoples maintain a powerful political and economic presence.
ECONOMY
Early Akan economics revolved primarily around the trade of gold
and enslaved peoples to Mande and Hausa traders within Africa and later to
Europeans along the coast. This trade was dominated by the Asante who received
firearms in their role as middlemen in the slave trade. These were used to
increase their already dominant power. Local agriculture includes cocoa
cultivation for export, while yams and taro serve as the main food staples.
Along the coast, fishing is very important. The depleted forests provide little
opportunity for hunting. Extensive markets are run primarily by women who hold
considerable economic power, while men engage in fishing, hunting, and clearing
land. Both sexes are involved in farming.
POLITICAL SYSTEMS
Royal membership among Akan is determined through connection to
the land. Anyone who traces descent from a founding member of a village or town
may be considered royal. Each family is responsible for maintaining political
and social order within its confines. In the past, there was a hierarchy of
leadership that extended beyond the family, first to the village headman, then
to a territorial chief, then to the paramount chief of each division within the
Asante confederacy. The highest level of power is reserved for the Asanthene,
who inherited his position along matrilineal lines. The Asantahene still plays
an important role in Ghana today, symbolically linking the past with current
Ghanaian politics.
RELIGION
Akan believe in a supreme god who takes on various names depending
upon the particular region of worship. Akan mythology claims that at one time
the god freely interacted with man, but that after being continually struck by
the pestle of an old woman pounding fufu, he retreated far up into the sky.
There are no priests that serve him directly, and people believe that they may
make direct contact with him. There are also numerous abosom (gods), who
receive their power from the supreme god and are connected to the natural
world. These include ocean and riverine spirits and various local deities.
Priests serve individual spirits and act as mediaries between the gods and
mankind. Nearly everyone participates in daily prayer, which includes the
pouring of libations as an offering to both the ancestors who are buried in the
land and to the spirits who are everywhere. The earth is seen as a female deity
and is directly connected to fertility and fecundity.
From the beginning of
this month, the Ghanaian populace and visitors to the country have been
inundated with myriads of blitz and glitz of advertising messages extolling the
arrival of much awaited and famed Kwahu Easter. This annual event has become a
class act and a unique assembly for socialites, holiday-makers, tourists and
Kwahu natives to pilgrimage to the Kwahu Hills to celebrate the three-day
spectacular festivities unparalleled around this time in the Ghanaian festive
calendar.
Kwahu refers to an area and group of people that live in Ghana, part of the Twi-speaking Akan group. The region has been dubbed Asaase Aban, or the Natural Fortress, in view of its position as the highest habitable elevation in the country. Kwahu lies in the Eastern Region of Ghana, on the west shore of Lake Volta. The region is shared with their fellow Akans: the Akyem and Akuapem, as well as the Adangbe-Krobos. A significant migrant population from the Northern and Volta Regions and some indigenous Guans from the bordering Oti and Brong East Regions live in the Afram Plains area. They work as traders, farm-hands, fisherfolk, and caretakers in the fertile waterfront 'melting pot'.
History[edit]
The name Kwahu, according to historians, derives from its myths of origin, "The slave (akoa) died (wu)," which was based on an ancient prophecy that a slave would die so the wandering tribe of Akan would know where to settle. This resonates with the etymology of the Ba-wu-le (Baoulé) Akans of the Ivory Coast whose Warrior Queen Awura Poku had to sacrifice her baby in order to cross the Komoe river. The myth was part of the historical stories of the Agona matriclan, the first paramount lineage of Kwawu, and was later adopted by the Bretuao-Tena matriclan (Twidan) who later replaced them. Other historians trace the name Kwahu to the dangers associated with making the mountainous terrain a habitat as it became known as a destination of no return: go at your own peril or "ko wu" in the Twi language. This latter version is thought to have come either from their ancestral people in Mampong who did not support fragmentation or from enemies who perished in trying to take fighting to the Kwahu in the treacherous mountains.[citation needed]
The paramount king and the royal matrilineage of the Kwawu reside at Abene, north of Abetifi towards the Volta. The strategic location of Abene and a dreaded militia that guarded the route was led by Akwamu warriors who fiercely repelled attempts by colonial forces to capture the Omanhene. Till this day, the road from Abetifi to the small enclave housing the king is plied with some unease, given the stories recounted.
Before their leaders seized upon the opportunities presented with the Bond of 1844, Kwahu was thus an integral part of the Ashanti Kingdom, attested by available maps of the period. Ashanti would wage punitive and protracted wars against fellow Akans including Denkyira, Akwamu, Akyem, Fanti, Assin but never fought Kwahu. Abetifi (Tena matriclan) is the head of the Adonten (vanguard). Obo (Aduana, Ada, Amoakade) is the head of the Nifa (Right Division) Aduamoa (Dwumena, Asona) is the head of the Benkum (Left Division). Pepease is the head of the Kyidom or rear-guard division.
As part of the Asante Empire, Kwawu had an Asante emissary, governor or ambassador at Atibie, next to Mpraeso, of the Ekuona matriclan). To indicate its independence from Asante in 1888 the Kwawu assassinated the Asante emissary in Atibe, about the time of the arrival of the Basel missionaries from Switzerland. Fritz Ramseyer had been granted a few days of rest during a stop at Kwahu while en route to Kumasi with his captors. He recovered quickly from a bout of fever while in the mountains. Upon gaining his freedom later from the Asantehene, he sought permission to build a Christian Mission in Abetifi, thereby placing the town on the world map and opening the area to vocational and evangelical opportunities. Although it remains a small town, Abetifi still draws the reputation of a Center of Excellence in Education with various institutions from the ground up. A Bernese country house built by Ramseyer, typical of the Swiss "Oberland" is well-kept and remains a symbol of early Christian Missionary Zeal. Obo, traditionally pro-Ashanti, led the opposition to the Swiss.
Until recently, they shunned political activism and are under-represented in government appointments, in comparison to other Akan groups such as the Ashanti, Fanti, Brong or Akyem.
Eulogy[edit]
The "h" spelling is the official spelling from the African Studies Centre, University of Ghana and resembles the pronunciation. The "h" was put in by Swiss missionaries from Basel, who added the "h" to ensure that Kwa, the first syllable, was not pronounced as "eh." The "h" is not separately pronounced in the name. For Anglo-Germanic speakers, Ku-A-U may be an easier pronunciation help whilst Franco-Roman natives would say KoU-AoU with ease.
Education institution[edit]
• [Nkawkaw Senior High School] Presbyterian University College
• St Peter's Senior HIgh School
• Kwahu Tafo Senior High School
• Atibie Nursing and Midwifery training college
• Kwahu Ridge. Senior High Technical
• Mpraeso Senior High School
• St. Paul's Senior High School, Asakraka
• Kwahu Tafo Senior High School
• Bepong Senior High School
• Nkwatia Presbyterian Senior High School
• St. Dominic's Senior High School
• Abetifi Secondary Technical School
• Abetifi Presbyterian Senior High School
• St. Joseph Technical School
• Amankwakrom Fisheries Agricultural Technical Institute, Afram Plains
• Donkorkrom Agricultural Senior High
• Mem-Chemfre Community Senior High School
• St. Mary`s Vocational and Technical Institute, Afram Plains
• Maame Krobo Community. Day School,
• St. Fidelis Senior High and Technical School
• Fodoa Community Senior High School
Economy[edit]
The Kwahu, an Akan people living on the eastern border of Ashanti in Ghana, are well known for their business activities. An enquiry into the reasons for their predominance among the largest shopkeepers by turnover in Accra traced the history of Kwahu business activities back to the British-Ashanti War of 1874, when the Kwahu broke away from the Ashanti Confederacy. The Kwahu trade with the north in slaves was replaced by the rubber trade, which continued until 1914. Rubber was carried to the coast for sale, and fish, salt, and imported commodities, notably cloth, were sold on the return journey north. Other Kwahu activities at this time included trading in local products and African beads.
The development of cocoa in south-eastern Ghana provided opportunities for enterprising Kwahu traders to sell there the imported goods obtained at the coast. Previously itinerant traders, the Kwahu began to settle for short periods in market towns. In the 1920s, the construction of the railway from Accra to Kumasi, growing road transportation, and the establishment inland of branches of the European firms reduced the price differences which had made trading inland so profitable. In the 1930s the spread of the cocoa disease, swollen shoot, in the hitherto prosperous south-east, finally turned Kwahu traders' attention to Accra. Trading remained the most prestigious of Kwahu activities, and young men sought by whatever means they could to save the necessary capital to establish a shop.[1]
But Kwahu traders very rarely developed beyond one-man businesses.[2] Profits were siphoned off into buildings and farms which would provide security for times of sickness and old age. (In this respect the Kwahu are typical of Ghanaian entrepreneurs, with some exceptions.) There is little evidence that this enterprising group of people can provide the new entrepreneurial organization or capital required by a developing country.
Geography[edit]
Access to Mainland Kwahu begins from the commercial hub of Nkawkaw (pronounced "In-core-core" for English/ In-kau-kau for German) which is roughly 3 hours drive from the outskirts of Accra and approximately 140.9 km in distance. It lies midway in the road journey from Accra to Kumasi and serves as the gateway to a cluster of smaller towns set within the hills. Although the region doesn't have a lake or identical weather fauna, the mountainous profile resembles the Italian region overlooking Lago di Garda in Lombardy or the surroundings of Interlaken in Switzerland, with winding roads uphill towards Beatenberg. An aerial view of portions of the Allegheny Plateau in the United States provides another good description of Kwahu Country.
Temperatures may trail the normal readings for Accra and other cities of Ghana by up to 3 points at daytime and drop further at night, making the weather in Kwahu relatively cooler and more pleasant. The Afram River collects the major drainage of the Plateau and makes an impressive 100km journey from Sekyere in Ashanti through Kwahu as a tributary to join the Volta Lake. Canoe fishing by is big business along the vast shoreline and beyond the smaller expanse of water stretch, the fertile grounds of the plains open into a huge agricultural paradise that is unquestionably one of Ghana's bread baskets.
Driving advice[edit]
First-time drivers are strictly advised to ensure the roadworthiness of their vehicles, with extra attention paid to break functions and gear shifts. The steep climb with sharp s-curves is quite demanding even for experienced drivers. However, there are registered (PROTOA/GPRTU) cab and lorry drivers for hire at the main Nkawkaw Station who will safely chauffeur or accompany groups for a small fee.
During the descent from Mpraeso or Obomeng to Nkawkaw, it is recommended that drivers remain in bottom gear (1st or 2nd shift positions) at all times until level ground. Be mindful of poor visibility, especially fog situations at night and in early mornings.
Language and culture[edit]
The term Kwahu also refers to the variant of Akan language spoken in this region by approximately 1,000,000 native speakers. Except for a few variations in stress, pronunciation, and syntax, there are no markers in the dialect of Akan spoken by the Kwahu versus their Ashanti or Akyem neighbors. Choice of words and names are pronounced closer to Akuapem Twi as in 1-Mukaase (Kitchen), 2-Afua (a girl's given day name for Friday), 3-Mankani (Cocoyam), etc. but not with the Akuapem tonation or accent. These three examples can quickly indicate the speaker's origin or source influence: Ashanti speakers would say Gyaade, Afia and Menkei for 1-3 above
Originally of Ashanti stock, oral history details the two-phased migration of the Kwahu from the Sekyere-Efidwase-Mampong ancestral lands through Asante-Akyem Hwidiem to arrive at Ankaase, which is today near the traditional capital of Abene, before spreading out on other settlements with clan members from peripheral Akyem and various parts of the Ashanti heartland. The group that first settled at Abene was led by (M)Ampong Agyei, who is accepted as the Founder of Kwahu. Historical material supports this view that connects the Kwahu to kinsmen who built their capital at Oda.
The fallout with Frimpong Manso, Chief of Akyem (Oda) triggered a second wave of migration, believed to have resulted from the refusal of Kwahu to swear an oath of allegiance, making them de facto subjects, upon arrival at Hwidiem. Unsuccessful incursions by the Oda Chief Atefa into Kwahu territory on the plateau would subsequently earn him the title "Okofrobour": one who takes the battle to the mountains. The jagged escarpment, however, made Kwahu inaccessible, hence the old humor meme Asaase Aban, signifying a naturally fortified and indestructible Kwahu Country.
If Ashanti Twi is by and large the refined language standard, it is appropriate to view Kwahu Twi as the precious stone from which the jeweler styles a gem. There is a certain purity of pronunciation, call it crude, with little effort to polish sounds: Kwahu speakers would opt for "Kawa" (a ring) and not "Kaa", "Barima" (Man) instead of "Berma" and pronounce "Oforiwaa" not "Foowaa". Another slight difference is the preference for full sentences among the Kwahu: "Wo ho te sen?" (How are you?) in place of the shorter "Ete sen?" in Ashanti; Other examples are Wo b3 ka s3 / As3 (you might say, looks like); Ye firi Ghana / Ye fi Ghana (We are from Ghana) and other minor name or word preferences, pronunciations, sentence length, etc. that usually pass unnoticed.
The Mamponghene, who is next to the Ashantehene in hierarchy, and the Kwahuhene are historical cousins, hence both occupy Silver Stools with the salutation Daasebre.
Tourist Attraction[edit]
• The Seat of Paramountcy - Abene.[3]
Festivals[edit]
Paragliding Festival[edit]
The Ghana Tourism Authority in an attempt to promote domestic tourism, launched the Kwahu Easter Paragliding Festival at Mpraeso in Kwahu in 2005.[4][5]This festival is an annual event which is held during every Easter in the month of April.[6][7] During the event, seasoned pilots are invited to participate and thousands of people visit Odweano Mountain at Kwahu Atibie.[8][9]
Akwasidaekese Festival[edit]
This is celebrated annually as the last Akwasidae of the year. The festival provides the community to commune and communicate with their ancestors, take stock of their activities as a people, plan ahead of coming years and thank God for His protection and provision over the years.[10]
Tete Wo Bi Kyere Books. History and facts about Asante kingdom And Ghana
May 9, 2019 •
HISTORY OF KWAHU
The present day Kwahus were part of Asante and lived at Kuntanase. They migrated to the present Kwahu lands, owing to frequent wars in the then Asante.
During their migration, they did not have any place in mind to settle, but a habitable place, which could provide a more relative peace.
By and by, they reached the present day Nkawkaw area and then decided to climb the present day Odweanoma mountain. Inspite of their peaceful orientation, their enemies were still attacking them.
According to historians, their altitudinal position offered them a great advantage. They could roll rocks from the top of the mountain to crush their enemies, who would climb to pursue them. This made them invincible to their enemies. Almost any group of people that dared to climb the mountain to attack them died in numbers.
As a result, they were referred to as "kɔ na kɔwufoɔ", which translates as "the go and die people". That is, they became those you literally decide to attack and then DIE !!!!.
Kɔ na kɔ wu became shortened as Kɔwu, meaning "GO & DIE"
... AND THAT IS THE SHORT HISTORY OF KWAHU(KƆWU) OF THE PRESENT DAY GHANA
TYPES OF ART
The Kwahu are well known for the funerary ceramics found by archaeologists. Woodcarving includes stools, which are recognized as "seats" of power, and akua ba (wooden dolls) that are associated with fertility. There are also extensive traditions of pottery and weaving throughout Akan territory. Kente cloth, woven on behalf of royalty, has come to symbolize African power throughout the world.
HISTORY
Kwahu are an Akan people living in southern Ghana. The rise of the early Akan centralized states can be traced to the 13th century and is likely related to the opening of trade routes established to move gold throughout the region. It was not until the end of the 17th century, however, that the grand Asante Kingdom emerged in the central forest region of Ghana, when several small states united under the Chief of Kumasi in a move to achieve political freedom from the Denkyira. The Akan confederacy was dissolved by the British in 1900 and colonized in 1901. Although there is no longer a centralized Akan confederacy, Akan peoples maintain a powerful political and economic presence.
ECONOMY
Early Akan economics revolved primarily around the trade of gold and enslaved peoples to Mande and Hausa traders within Africa and later to Europeans along the coast. This trade was dominated by the Asante who received firearms in their role as middlemen in the slave trade. These were used to increase their already dominant power. Local agriculture includes cocoa cultivation for export, while yams and taro serve as the main food staples. Along the coast, fishing is very important. The depleted forests provide little opportunity for hunting. Extensive markets are run primarily by women who hold considerable economic power, while men engage in fishing, hunting, and clearing land. Both sexes are involved in farming.
POLITICAL SYSTEMS
Royal membership among Akan is determined through connection to the land. Anyone who traces descent from a founding member of a village or town may be considered royal. Each family is responsible for maintaining political and social order within its confines. In the past, there was a hierarchy of leadership that extended beyond the family, first to the village headman, then to a territorial chief, then to the paramount chief of each division within the Asante confederacy. The highest level of power is reserved for the Asanthene, who inherited his position along matrilineal lines. The Asantahene still plays an important role in Ghana today, symbolically linking the past with current Ghanaian politics.
RELIGION
Akan believe in a supreme god who takes on various names depending upon the particular region of worship. Akan mythology claims that at one time the god freely interacted with man, but that after being continually struck by the pestle of an old woman pounding fufu, he retreated far up into the sky. There are no priests that serve him directly, and people believe that they may make direct contact with him. There are also numerous abosom (gods), who receive their power from the supreme god and are connected to the natural world. These include ocean and riverine spirits and various local deities. Priests serve individual spirits and act as mediaries between the gods and mankind. Nearly everyone participates in daily prayer, which includes the pouring of libations as an offering to both the ancestors who are buried in the land and to the spirits who are everywhere. The earth is seen as a female deity and is directly connected to fertility and fecundity.
From the beginning of this month, the Ghanaian populace and visitors to the country have been inundated with myriads of blitz and glitz of advertising messages extolling the arrival of much awaited and famed Kwahu Easter. This annual event has become a class act and a unique assembly for socialites, holiday-makers, tourists and Kwahu natives to pilgrimage to the Kwahu Hills to celebrate the three-day spectacular festivities unparalleled around this time in the Ghanaian festive calendar.
The Kwahu Easter, which has now been accepted as part of Kwahu culture and national celebration, courtesy Ministry of Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts has a flurry of socio-cultural activities in addition to how the indigenous Kwahus use the Easter to meet their families, resolve family problems, engage in festivities and observe quite time. The grandeur of the activities that marked the Easter includes paragliding, hiking, carnivals and street jams. Thus, the Kwahu people now see the Easter as an annual homecoming, whilst the holiday revelers looks at it as an occasion for celebrations.
Taking advantage of the Kwahu Easter to promote tourism, the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) and Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts (MoTCCA) have since 2005 continued to run the Kwahu Easter Paragliding Festival as the core part of the three-day event. Corporations and businesses in the country have also sponsored the programmes as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSO) programmes.
This year, MTN Ghana, the nation's mobile telecommunications giant, unveiled a mouth-watering support package to boost the event's attraction to holidaymakers. In addition to huge sums of money given to traditional authorities for certain communal projects in tandem with the Easter festivities; MTN is sponsoring the street hip-life performances and concert in selected towns in the Kwahu area by celebrated artistes. The company will also engage in data activation throughout the festive period to give its customers smooth access to internet and data services.
Who are the Kwahu people?
The Kwahu or Okwawu are hardworking mountain-dwelling agriculturalist and the famous business-oriented Kwa-speaking people that forms a subset of the larger Akan ethnolinguistic group living in the south-central Ghana, on the west shore of Lake Volta in the Eastern Region. The Kwahu live specifically on part of the Kwahu sandstone plateau, with the Afram Plains to the north, Akim Abuakwa to the south, Ashanti Akim to the west, and the Volta River forming an approximate boundary to the east.
Kwahu people speak a Twi-dialect of Akan language, which is within the Kwa language group (Twi, Sefwi, Mfantse, Chokossi, Nzema, Ewe, et al), but also falls in the larger Niger-Congo phylum. The derivative of Kwahu-Twi spoken in indigenous Kwahu towns such as Abene, Abetifi, Pepease, Atibie, Nkwatia, Obo, Bepong, Tafo, Akwasiho, Obomeng, Twenedurase, Nteso, Nkwakwa, Mpraeso, Asakraka, Aduamoa, Pitiko, Sadan, Burukuwa, Nkwantanane, Ahinasie and Donkorkrom is slightly different from Asante-Twi, Akwapim-Twi and Akyem-Twi. According to Linguists Kwahus are fond of using the syllabi (La), (hunu) and the like. Thus they end their speech and pronunciation with words that end with "La" sound. In most cases, you will find that instead of "saa" the Kwahu ends it with “Saala” (that’s it), “yei ala” (just this). Therein dwells the distinction, and the Kwahus especially Obos are noted for such trend in speech delivery. The Kwahu slogan is Asase Aban, Yεnte Gyae (Protectors of the Land, We don`t quit) and also Oboכּ (Rock) or Oboכּba (Child of the Rock).
The beautiful Kwahu Scarps, their residential polity has received platitudes from historians and anthropologists alike. Historians Macmillan and Kwamena Poh (1965) describe the wonderful climate of their mountainous town, Abetifi as “… the Switzerland of West Africa, with nights as cool as May nights in Europe”.
The people are very wealthy and successful traders who were the first to utilize their interior middlemen role to emerge as strong local business gurus.
Sandwiched between Ashanti and the coast, by 1914 thousands of Kwahu traders had spread all over the colony, to some parts of the Northern Territories, and even to French West Africa. With their extensive adherence to mobility, the Kwahus immediately took advantage of the new opportunities for wage labor under colonial rule, both on public works and in the mines as far away as the Western Province. They also engaged in salt trading at Ada, carting copper bangles from Saltpond, commercial rubber business, sold cloth, and started tailoring work as sandals-makers as stepping stone to trade in the Gold Coast. Kwahu were the foremost in selling goods from Europeans of the Coast to the hinterlands and northern regions, whilst moving interior agricultural produce to the coast simultaneously.
In his 1968 journal article, “The Development of Kwahu Business Enterprise in Ghana since 1874-An Essay in Recent Oral Tradition,” Peter C. Garlick avers that Kwahu business entrepreneurial dexterity is steeped in a fable of how the Pra River deity asked the Asante and Kwahu people what gift they desired most, and the Asante asked for food and drink, but the Kwahu went for trade. Garlick (1968) avers that the Kwahus are “The 'Jews of Ghana....and they are teased for their thriftiness by other groups. Many Kwahu will tell you that their trading abilities are in-born, though no Kwahu, in my experience, assumed that running a business was a simple matter. It was a skill to be acquired by training and experience, and this was a part of nearly every Kwahu child's upbringing, even if-especially in more recent years only during the school holidays.”
The Kwahus are victims of our usual Ghanaian stereotyping others without empirical facts. Due to their ability to put up huge and successful businesses and numerous wonderful mansions with expensive and advanced architecture on the mountains people ignorantly accuse them of indulging in ritual or blood money (sika aduro). Their competitors in markets claim Kwahus use Nzema Bayie or wizardry in making money business. And for being modest and highly frugal in any venture they undertake except business that brings them more money, they are perceived as 'pεpεe' (misers) as Garlick averred.
History of Kwahu and the Origin of their name The Kwahu traces their historical origins to Adansi and Asante Mampong in present-day Ashanti Region. The first migration from the Adansi occurred when the Asante Kingdom or social formation had not been thought out by Osei Tutu I (founder of the Asante nation). Long before the Asante-Denkyira war of1699-1700, Nana Osei Twum, the first Chief Agonaman in the Adansi Morobem, his nephew Badu, his younger brother Kwasi Tititii and a slave Kofabra ("fetch it") together with Frempong Manso (who later founded Asante-Akyem stool land in the Asante Kingdom) Nana Ameyaw and Nana Adu Gyamfi, (founders of Asante Afidwase and Asante Gyamase respectively) fled from the cruelty of the King of Denkyira who had captured Adansi in about1650, to find a new land. The group got divided and the trekking Kwahu party led by Osei Twum moved up mountains and stopped first at Dampong, whereupon Osei Twum and his party then moved on and discovered the Mpraeso Scarp. The trekking Kwahus continued to search for suitable land settle, thus from Mount Apaku where they first settled, they came across a stream with a rock in it shaped like a stone jar, and Osee Twum interpreting this as a good omen decided to settle there and called the place Obo-kuruwa or Bukuruwa (meaning stone jar). They settled there for many years, until Twum died and was succeeded by Baadu. Bukuruwa grew to become a big town; it received emigrants from the Adumoa, the Obo and the Nkwatia people.
Historical accounts, “A Few Notes on Kwahu ("Quahoe," a Territory in the Gold Coast Colony, West Africa)” published by W. Perregaux in 1903 and “THE KWAHUS—THEIR CONNECTION WITH THE AFRAM PLAIN” published by J.R. WALLIS in 1953 confirms that the name Kwahu emerged as a name for a social formation as a result of expression of grief about the death of Kofraba, the slave. Perregaux (1903) asserts that "one day a nephew of Osei Twum, Kwasi Tititi, went with his slave Kofabra about the country to explore it. During this expedition the slave died. Kwasi Tititi returned to Bukuruwa to anoounce his death to his uncle. Full of griedf at this news Osei Twum exclaimed: O! akoa wu ui! (Lit: Oh, the death of my slave!). And from this time, the whole country was called "Okwa`u", (Kwawu). Wallis (1953) building on similar account, narrates that "In the course of time Kwasi Tititii and Kofabra died and Baadu, comparing the elaborate funeral of Kwasi Tititii with the poor one of Kofabra the slave, is reported to have said "Akoa wuo ni" (so this is a slave's death!) or "Akoa wu" (where a slave died) which corrupted became Okwawu or Kwahu.” Kofi Nkansa-Kyeremateng in his 124 Pages book: “Kwahu Handbook: Tips Galore for Investors and Tourists” published in 2000 also concurred with Perregaux (1903) and Wallis (1953) about the accounts (Kofraba`s death) on the origin of the name kwahu. Indeed, Nkansa-Kyeremateng (2000) went further to explain the origin of Nkwakwa, stating that “Bepong was said to be a formidable Kingdom with heavily guarded mountain passes. The fear the Kingdom evoked got its name “Kowu” which simply means “go there and die”. The name Nkawkaw (Nkכּ-Kowu) was a warning to people approaching the Kwahu chiefdom”.
The second wave of Kwahu emigrants were from Mamong Agyei, whose uncle was Esono Gyima of Asante Mampong, was chased away by his uncle Atakora for not helping in a war. Mampong Agyei in his trekking first settled at Hwediem, where he was defeated in a war with King of Dwaben (Juaben), before he moved to settle at Abene. The Abene, became the seat of the present line of the Paramount Chiefs of Kwahu. The Kwahu land continued to receive other migrants including the Ewes, Hausa and people of northern extraction who came to settle particularly in the Afram Plains. If other migrants came to settle in Afram Plain from the Volta enclaves, the Kwahu people also settled in some part of Volta region when they fought the Akwamu people at Asabi on the River Volta in the Akwamu-Accra (1669-1680). King Baadu was defeated and the remnants of his forces crossed the Volta into Togoland and settled at Tscheme, south of Kpandu. Wallis asserts that “It is from here perhaps that the seeds of the longa nd bitter dispute between the Kwahus and Ewe people over lands on the right bank of the river were sown.” Historian Debrunner confirmed Kwahu presence when relates that several centuries before the German occupation of Togoland (1884), an Akan people, the Kwahu Dukoman, settled north east of the River Menu. Most of the Akans in these areas now occupied by th Buems, Ewes and Akpossos have Kwahu ancestry.
The Kwahus were closely connected with their neighbors, the Asantes and did not break away from the Asante overrule until 1874-1875. British control was formally established with the declaration of the Gold Coast Colony in 1901, when Kwahu and Akim Abuakwa were constituted as the Birim administrative district. Birim was subdivided in 1914, and Kwahu became a district of its own.
As both Kwahu indigenes and visitors celebrate this year`s Easter festivities, attention must also be paid to the history of the people, their entrepreneurial skills, respect for appropriate socio-cultural and traditional values and rules as a bastion for regulating family matters and other laws regulating political and economic affairs of Kwahu State as enshrined in the 1915 comprehensive document, the Magna Carta of Kwahu, signed between Omanhene Kwaku Akuamoa and his subjects. Implementation of the document and amendment to certain portions can be used by Kwahu traditional authorities to check unscrupulous people who have turned the Easter celebration into ambushed condom marketing business, alcohol and sexual tourism and open display of sexual orgies
The Kwahu Easter,
which has now been accepted as part of Kwahu culture and national celebration,
courtesy Ministry of Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts has a
flurry of socio-cultural activities in addition to how the indigenous Kwahus
use the Easter to meet their families, resolve family problems, engage in
festivities and observe quite time. The grandeur of the activities that marked
the Easter includes paragliding, hiking, carnivals and street jams. Thus, the
Kwahu people now see the Easter as an annual homecoming, whilst the holiday
revelers looks at it as an occasion for celebrations.
Taking advantage of
the Kwahu Easter to promote tourism, the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) and
Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts (MoTCCA) have since 2005
continued to run the Kwahu Easter Paragliding Festival as the core part of the
three-day event. Corporations and businesses in the country have also sponsored
the programmes as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSO)
programmes.
This year, MTN Ghana,
the nation's mobile telecommunications giant, unveiled a mouth-watering support
package to boost the event's attraction to holidaymakers. In addition to huge
sums of money given to traditional authorities for certain communal projects in
tandem with the Easter festivities; MTN is sponsoring the street hip-life
performances and concert in selected towns in the Kwahu area by celebrated
artistes. The company will also engage in data activation throughout the
festive period to give its customers smooth access to internet and data
services.
Who are the Kwahu
people?
The Kwahu or Okwawu
are hardworking mountain-dwelling agriculturalist and the famous
business-oriented Kwa-speaking people that forms a subset of the larger Akan
ethnolinguistic group living in the south-central Ghana, on the west shore of
Lake Volta in the Eastern Region. The Kwahu live specifically on part of the
Kwahu sandstone plateau, with the Afram Plains to the north, Akim Abuakwa to
the south, Ashanti Akim to the west, and the Volta River forming an approximate
boundary to the east.
Kwahu people speak a
Twi-dialect of Akan language, which is within the Kwa language group (Twi,
Sefwi, Mfantse, Chokossi, Nzema, Ewe, et al), but also falls in the larger
Niger-Congo phylum. The derivative of Kwahu-Twi spoken in indigenous Kwahu
towns such as Abene, Abetifi, Pepease, Atibie, Nkwatia, Obo, Bepong, Tafo,
Akwasiho, Obomeng, Twenedurase, Nteso, Nkwakwa, Mpraeso, Asakraka,
Aduamoa, Pitiko, Sadan, Burukuwa, Nkwantanane, Ahinasie and Donkorkrom is
slightly different from Asante-Twi, Akwapim-Twi and Akyem-Twi. According to
Linguists Kwahus are fond of using the syllabi (La), (hunu) and the like. Thus
they end their speech and pronunciation with words that end with "La"
sound. In most cases, you will find that instead of "saa" the
Kwahu ends it with “Saala” (that’s it), “yei ala” (just this). Therein dwells
the distinction, and the Kwahus especially Obos are noted for such trend in
speech delivery. The Kwahu slogan is Asase Aban, Yεnte Gyae (Protectors
of the Land, We don`t quit) and also Oboכּ (Rock) or Oboכּba (Child of the
Rock).
The beautiful Kwahu
Scarps, their residential polity has received platitudes from historians and
anthropologists alike. Historians Macmillan and Kwamena Poh (1965) describe the
wonderful climate of their mountainous town, Abetifi as “… the Switzerland of
West Africa, with nights as cool as May nights in Europe”.
The people are very
wealthy and successful traders who were the first to utilize their interior middlemen
role to emerge as strong local business gurus.
Sandwiched between
Ashanti and the coast, by 1914 thousands of Kwahu traders had spread all over
the colony, to some parts of the Northern Territories, and even to French West
Africa. With their extensive adherence to mobility, the Kwahus immediately took
advantage of the new opportunities for wage labor under colonial rule, both on
public works and in the mines as far away as the Western Province. They also
engaged in salt trading at Ada, carting copper bangles from Saltpond,
commercial rubber business, sold cloth, and started tailoring work as
sandals-makers as stepping stone to trade in the Gold Coast. Kwahu were the
foremost in selling goods from Europeans of the Coast to the hinterlands and
northern regions, whilst moving interior agricultural produce to the coast
simultaneously.
In his 1968 journal
article, “The Development of Kwahu Business Enterprise in Ghana since 1874-An
Essay in Recent Oral Tradition,” Peter C. Garlick avers that Kwahu business
entrepreneurial dexterity is steeped in a fable of how the Pra River deity
asked the Asante and Kwahu people what gift they desired most, and the Asante
asked for food and drink, but the Kwahu went for trade. Garlick (1968) avers
that the Kwahus are “The 'Jews of Ghana....and they are teased for their
thriftiness by other groups. Many Kwahu will tell you that their trading
abilities are in-born, though no Kwahu, in my experience, assumed that running
a business was a simple matter. It was a skill to be acquired by training and
experience, and this was a part of nearly every Kwahu child's upbringing, even
if-especially in more recent years only during the school holidays.”
The Kwahus are
victims of our usual Ghanaian stereotyping others without empirical facts. Due
to their ability to put up huge and successful businesses and numerous
wonderful mansions with expensive and advanced architecture on the mountains
people ignorantly accuse them of indulging in ritual or blood money (sika
aduro). Their competitors in markets claim Kwahus use Nzema Bayie or wizardry
in making money business. And for being modest and highly frugal in any venture
they undertake except business that brings them more money, they are perceived
as 'pεpεe' (misers) as Garlick averred.
History of Kwahu and
the Origin of their name
The Kwahu traces their historical
origins to Adansi and Asante Mampong in present-day Ashanti Region. The first
migration from the Adansi occurred when the Asante Kingdom or social formation
had not been thought out by Osei Tutu I (founder of the Asante nation). Long
before the Asante-Denkyira war of1699-1700, Nana Osei Twum, the first Chief
Agonaman in the Adansi Morobem, his nephew Badu, his younger brother Kwasi
Tititii and a slave Kofabra ("fetch it") together with Frempong Manso
(who later founded Asante-Akyem stool land in the Asante Kingdom) Nana Ameyaw
and Nana Adu Gyamfi, (founders of Asante Afidwase and Asante Gyamase
respectively) fled from the cruelty of the King of Denkyira who had captured
Adansi in about1650, to find a new land. The group got divided and the trekking
Kwahu party led by Osei Twum moved up mountains and stopped first at Dampong,
whereupon Osei Twum and his party then moved on and discovered the Mpraeso
Scarp. The trekking Kwahus continued to search for suitable land settle, thus
from Mount Apaku where they first settled, they came across a stream with a rock
in it shaped like a stone jar, and Osee Twum interpreting this as a good omen
decided to settle there and called the place Obo-kuruwa or Bukuruwa (meaning
stone jar). They settled there for many years, until Twum died and was
succeeded by Baadu. Bukuruwa grew to become a big town; it received emigrants
from the Adumoa, the Obo and the Nkwatia people.
Historical accounts,
“A Few Notes on Kwahu ("Quahoe," a Territory in the Gold Coast
Colony, West Africa)” published by W. Perregaux in 1903 and “THE KWAHUS—THEIR
CONNECTION WITH THE AFRAM PLAIN” published by J.R. WALLIS in 1953 confirms that
the name Kwahu emerged as a name for a social formation as a result of
expression of grief about the death of Kofraba, the slave. Perregaux (1903)
asserts that "one day a nephew of Osei Twum, Kwasi Tititi, went with his
slave Kofabra about the country to explore it. During this expedition the slave
died. Kwasi Tititi returned to Bukuruwa to anoounce his death to his uncle.
Full of griedf at this news Osei Twum exclaimed: O! akoa wu ui! (Lit: Oh, the
death of my slave!). And from this time, the whole country was called
"Okwa`u", (Kwawu). Wallis (1953) building on similar account,
narrates that "In the course of time Kwasi Tititii and Kofabra died and
Baadu, comparing the elaborate funeral of Kwasi Tititii with the poor one of
Kofabra the slave, is reported to have said "Akoa wuo ni" (so this is
a slave's death!) or "Akoa wu" (where a slave died) which corrupted
became Okwawu or Kwahu.” Kofi Nkansa-Kyeremateng in his 124 Pages book: “Kwahu
Handbook: Tips Galore for Investors and Tourists” published in 2000 also
concurred with Perregaux (1903) and Wallis (1953) about the accounts (Kofraba`s
death) on the origin of the name kwahu. Indeed, Nkansa-Kyeremateng (2000) went
further to explain the origin of Nkwakwa, stating that “Bepong was said to be a
formidable Kingdom with heavily guarded mountain passes. The fear the Kingdom
evoked got its name “Kowu” which simply means “go there and die”. The name
Nkawkaw (Nkכּ-Kowu) was a warning to people approaching the Kwahu chiefdom”.
The second wave of
Kwahu emigrants were from Mamong Agyei, whose uncle was Esono Gyima of Asante
Mampong, was chased away by his uncle Atakora for not helping in a war. Mampong
Agyei in his trekking first settled at Hwediem, where he was defeated in a war
with King of Dwaben (Juaben), before he moved to settle at Abene. The Abene,
became the seat of the present line of the Paramount Chiefs of Kwahu. The Kwahu
land continued to receive other migrants including the Ewes, Hausa and people
of northern extraction who came to settle particularly in the Afram Plains. If
other migrants came to settle in Afram Plain from the Volta enclaves, the Kwahu
people also settled in some part of Volta region when they fought the Akwamu
people at Asabi on the River Volta in the Akwamu-Accra (1669-1680). King Baadu
was defeated and the remnants of his forces crossed the Volta into Togoland and
settled at Tscheme, south of Kpandu. Wallis asserts that “It is from here
perhaps that the seeds of the longa nd bitter dispute between the Kwahus and
Ewe people over lands on the right bank of the river were sown.” Historian
Debrunner confirmed Kwahu presence when relates that several centuries before
the German occupation of Togoland (1884), an Akan people, the Kwahu Dukoman,
settled north east of the River Menu. Most of the Akans in these areas now
occupied by th Buems, Ewes and Akpossos have Kwahu ancestry.
The Kwahus were
closely connected with their neighbors, the Asantes and did not break away from
the Asante overrule until 1874-1875. British control was formally established
with the declaration of the Gold Coast Colony in 1901, when Kwahu and Akim
Abuakwa were constituted as the Birim administrative district. Birim was
subdivided in 1914, and Kwahu became a district of its own.
As both Kwahu
indigenes and visitors celebrate this year`s Easter festivities, attention must
also be paid to the history of the people, their entrepreneurial skills,
respect for appropriate socio-cultural and traditional values and rules as a
bastion for regulating family matters and other laws regulating political and
economic affairs of Kwahu State as enshrined in the 1915 comprehensive
document, the Magna Carta of Kwahu, signed between Omanhene Kwaku Akuamoa and
his subjects. Implementation of the document and amendment to certain portions
can be used by Kwahu traditional authorities to check unscrupulous people who
have turned the Easter celebration into ambushed condom marketing business,
alcohol and sexual tourism and open display of sexual orgies
