We Are Not Pagans -Nene Addo Ofosu –Oblim II

“And former president Kuffour wept for the first time when a sitting president came to Dodowa, because our forefathers fought the Ashanti’s and won the battle of Katamanso in the Dodowa forest, hence, Most of the Dangme stools have Ashanti names”- Nene Addo –Ofosu Oblim(II). “You can’t enter into the Dodowa forest with Sandals if you are not a traditional chief, never try it” he warned.

He is not a fan of alcohol, but if you asked him his favorite food, his wife will laugh when she is around because she knows her man. His favorite food is fufu and light soup , cocoyam and plantain and above all, he believes in God and also believes in his son Christ Jesus. He has no fears in life at this stage because he speaks the truth, “if you don’t believe in his son how can you go to the father, you can’t bypass the son and go to the old man” We both laughed with the white lady, Anna Maria, from the Netherlands. He loves reading, storytelling and volley ball, married with two wives, one given to him as stool wife with six (6) children, three (3) males and three (3) females.

According to him, married life is not easy but it is good and anything he realized that it appears abominable he will scream and say “NO!” A courageous man, probably, I will say because he was once with the Ghana police service, this is the man I bring to Dangme readers today, Nene Addo-Ofosu Oblim(II) an active member of the Shai traditional council and Numerse Djase.

Born and bred in Koforidua in the eastern region on the 25th October 1948 to the late Mr. and Mrs Phobi. The father was from Dodowa Numerse and mother from Manya. The young Nene Addo –Ofosu (II) who is 68years but yet looks younger than most young men in this current world, started his elementary education at the Anglican school in Asamankese in 1957-1967 and later went to Agona Swedru to obtain his O level in 1972 and after teaching as a pupil teacher joined the Ghana Police service on 1st August 1977.

According to Nene Addo -Ofosu Oblim(II), in the olden days the training for police service was between15-18months and they were 100 in number and he placed 6th and was posted to Nima Police station and was appointed as a detective(CID)because of his cleverness. This is evident when one gets closer to him. At Nima police station, he was appointed a Lance Corporal in 1979 and in 1985 a full corporal and later transferred to community one and later worked at Ada , Kasseh junction under the Tema division for six years. He was later transferred to Nsuta Manpongten in the Ashanti region and rose to the rank of inspector. In 2006, he was transferred from Nsuta to Koforidua and became the regional station officer and was promoted as the chief inspector before his retirement from the police service. He served 35years as a detective (CID). From his rich background, we caught up with him at his residence to tell us about the Shai traditional council and the journey forward for the Shai State.

So on Tuesday 16th of February, a white lady came to visit us at the Dangme news office, she was a master’s degree student in Anthropology at the University of Ghana working on her thesis. She came for assistance, so I told her to wait for me. I picked up my phone and I called Nene Addo-Ofosu Oblim(II). Hello Nene, are you home? Yes am home, I am coming there with a visitor, she is a white lady. Nene said, my son, just wait for a while and let me prepare myself. Eeii these chiefs, he would welcome a white lady. Later, Nene called. “My son, am done and well prepared, you can come now”.

I picked my car keys and drove straight to Nene. Agoo, and they responded and we greeted them traditionally and we were given a seat. I saw Nene and I was amazed to see him in his royal wear. Here is the man, dressed majestically and sitting royally on his throne and enjoying fully the benefits of being Nene. He asked us our mission and we told him about it and we decided to go straight to the point. We are here to learn about the people of Shai and the chieftaincy way forward. The white lady, Anna Maria from the Netherlands picked up her video and we started the interview.

The Dangme Tribes
According to Nene, Adangme means Krobos with seven (7) tribes namely, Ningo-Prampram, Ada, Kpone, Osudoku, Shai, manya Krobo and Yilo Krobo. According to him, we are few, so the government decided to add the Gas to the Dangmes.

Divisions in the Shai area
We greeted Nene, led by his wife as tradition demands, and we introduced ourselves. He responded with his nicely dressed royal wear. According to Nene, Osudoku is not part of the Shai traditional council but administratively it is part of the Shai -Osudoku district assembly. According to Nene, Kordiebe, Ayikuma, Doryumu, Agomeda, Dodowa constitutes the Shai state and three major divisions in terms of chieftaincy area exist: namely, Hiowe, Hiome and Lekpeje constitute the major divisions and all chiefs are under one of these divisions.

According to Nene who is well versed in the Se traditions said that, Hiome is Agomeda, Doryumu is Hiowe and Lekpeje is Kordiebe. The divisional head of Lekpeje is Nene Nonor Sodje(V) who doubles as the acting president of the Se traditional council. Numerse, Manya is under the Hiome division of Agomeda, Aperko, Ayikuma are under Mla-Lekpeje division at Kordiebe. Every chief controls a division but the actual division is called Mla division, eg. Mla-Hiome, Mla- Hiowe and Mla-Lekpeje, so all others are subdivisions and they come under one of these major divisions

Land ownership in Shai state
According to Nene, lands are owned by families and there is nothing like traditional lands. However he said all lands are under traditional councils. So if one wants to purchase a land, according to Nene, one has to go to the traditional council to prepare a document to make it genuine.

Organogram in the Traditional council
Finally, Nene told me about the Organogram in the traditional council. According to Nene, the head is the paramount chief who is the supreme authority of all divisional chiefs. Secondly, are the divisional chiefs who control a division and finally the sub divisional chiefs who include; Asafoatse, Oyeheko Mantse and others in the traditional settings.

Job descriptions of the leaders
Chief: Is someone who is properly enstooled by his people, community and serves the paramount chief

Oyeheko Mantse: According to Nene, Oyeheko Mantse was traditionally not part of the Se state but was created in Agomeda by Nene Nagai Kassah(VII) and nowhere else in the Se state to assist the then acting paramount chief in his work .

Dzase: Controls the properties of the chief including his families.

Asafoatse: meaning youth leader who leads war whilst the chiefs stay behind

Setse: stool father and every stool has its own father. He is amongst the kingmakers. According to Nene, every stool has a black stool signifying his authority. They are kept in the room and securely locked with three locks. According to Nene, as a chief you don’t have to see your black stool. Death occurs if you see it. The black stool is your powerhouse as a chief and sitting on the black stool is done in the night and is always covered with a white cloth. According to Nene, there are some ‘avoid’ list you must do before sitting on your black stool. He mentioned that you must remain chaste. However he said the black stool could be stolen and if this happens a special tradition is performed and the stool is returned. A new one could be created but it comes with huge repercussions

Queen mother: He said, a queen mother assists the chief and she is the leader of the women in the community. He said as a chief it is a big taboo to sleep with your queen mother. Death results from doing this he stated. He further warned that many chiefs died because of this.

Suapolor: He said traditionally, it was not part of Se state but along the line it was created in Kordiebe as Nene Adamtey Drolor(I) was a native mainly because he started some developmental project. But he said that Manya krobo state has Suapolor as a legitimate position. He said Suapolor means leading and cleaning the way for the chiefs if they are embarking on journeys.

In respect of this event I asked: Then it means tradition itself can be amended and he answered in affirmative. According to him, their division in Numerse is considering the position of Simpim and Oyeheko Mantse.

Simpim: According to Nene Simpim is the least in the traditional cycle under an Asafoatse and accordingly, in the absence of the subchief Simpim acts.

Christianity and Tradition
He stated that, most pastors mislead the public and claimed that some pastors send their children for Dipo rite yet they criticise others for doing it. He also said that, they chiefs are not “Pagans” and they believe in God but they cannot leave their house stool to become vacant and therefore it must be filled. He said for instance previously, it was a taboo for a girl to become pregnant in Krobo land without the Dipo rite and this led most of the girls into hiding in Larteh and married the men there and they became relatives with the Larteh people.

Future of Shai- State
According to Nene, the future is bright for Shai state and very soon there is going to be a paramount chief. At this juncture the Dangme news team departed. Stay tuned and read Dangme newspaper as I take you to the Yilo traditional council in our next edition.

Dr. Raphael Nyarkotey Obu: ND,MSc, PhD(A.M)