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Some Practices of some regions that are cruel

A lot of people only thought it was only the asantehene of the Ashanti region that want to continue the kingdom not knowing it isn't only the Asantehene who has parts of his area of jurisdiction situate in another region....Perhaps, the Nayiri can be similarly accused of seeking to perpetuate his Kingdom, or...? Detractors,and Asante bashers, what do you have to say?......Akrase

A guy who had some interest in this topic , said he wanted to correct the erroneous impression being created by "some unscrupulous and ignorant people" that he had no traditional jurisdiction over the Bawku chieftaincy. "I wish to state with special emphasis that my Kingdom remains the oldest in Ghana and started in Pusiga-Bawku and some parts of the Upper East Region such as Nangode, Sakote, Tongo, Zuarungu and Bongo," he said.

The Nayiri said his Kingdom traditionally enskinned chiefs of Binduri, Teishi, Warikambo and Tanka. "Any person or group of people who attempt to rewrite the history of this tradition by whatever means must put a stop to it immediately or else face the wrath of the gods." "Let me remind them that traditional structures remain independent of partisan politics and traditional boundaries are not affected by political demarcation and all must appreciate this fact and be circumspect in their pronouncements", the King said.

Also another person expressed his sadness about the involvement of towns such as Pusiga, Garu, Zebilla, Binduri and Binaba in the Bawku conflict and the attack on the lives and properties of Mamprusis and other innocent people in the area.

"I appeal to all those involved in the perpetration of the cruel acts and those who fuel and fund the conflict to put a stop to their activities before they are consumed by their own misdeeds". He called on the youth of Mamprugu, especially those in Nalerigu, Gambaga, Langbinsi, Walewale and Bolgatanga to remain calm and not to indulge in any retaliatory attack on the lives and properties of Kusasis.

This person called on the government to be cautious and impartial in its intervention in the Bawku conflict in order to win the confidence and trust of all the people involved in the conflict. He said he would consult the National House of Chiefs, elders and sub chiefs in his kingdom to find a durable and lasting peace to the protracted Bawku conflict.

 

        Death Practices of the Ga people

Ako Adjei takes us back in time to the death practices of the Ga people of the Gold Coast some 65 years ago.

It is very interesting to see how things have changed between then and now.

Some really interesting aspects there, including the beating of the widow and public looting. (Perhaps the public looting custom is the reason why Accra today still closes for business on occasions marking the death of Ga kings.) THE Ga people are one of the major tribes in the Gold Coast, British West Africa. Their territory borders along the Gulf of Guinea for a distance of about a hundred and fifty miles from Ada in the extreme east of the Gold Coast to Obutu in the west. The width of this territory farther inland from the coast ranges from about twenty miles in some places to about seventy miles. The northern neighbors of the Ga people are the Akwapim and the Guan tribes; in the east are the great Ewe tribes of Togoland and Dahomey, and in the west is the Fanti group of tribes, which is a section of the great Akan family of nations among which the Ashantis are the most famous in African history. Accra, the ancient city of the Ga people, is the capital of the Gold Coast today. First of all the name “Accra” was gotten from an Akan word “nkran”, meaning black ants. The Ashantis call the Ga people “Nkranfo”, and their capital “Nkran”. This is so because in the days of inter-tribal wars the Ga people were so numerous that they covered the battle fields like the innumerable hordes of black ants. But the Ga people call themselves “Gamei”, meaning people descended from “gaga”, which is a venomous black ant acclaimed to be the king and supreme among all non-flying insects.

To begin there are some beliefs that they have that causes the death. Among many primitive peoples death was taken to be an ill fate that befalls humanity, and around this single phenomenon many beliefs were developed, such as the belief in immortality and the existence of a spiritual world.

To the Ga people of the Gold Coast death is not only a human catastrophe but sometimes it is also a blessing from the gods. The interpretation is usually made with regard to the age of the deceased and the circumstances under which the death occurred. Death may be natural or accidental, or it may be due to old age. When we talk of natural death its simply death arising from old age, its is a normal thing that man will die so when one get to the old age and die its normal and called natural death.

Accidental death as everyone knows is death caused by unforeseen circumstances such as been knocked by car, being hit by a falling tree, also someone may die from a lightning stroke, or drowned in the sea or in the river. Then again, a child who died during the process of parturition is said to have been killed by the old woman who lives next door in the same neighborhood, and whom everybody knows to be a witch. In this train of thought, we find that, in the Ga way of thinking, death is always attributable to "something"; it might have been caused by the gods and goddesses of the nation.

As to these deaths that when celebrating the homowo festival and other events Accra is meant to be quiet and in silence.