Winneba – a town like no other in Ghana (Book Review)

There is no town like Winneba in Ghana!

Resilient Winneba – Now and Then By Oheneba A. Akyeampong. Ohenepong Publications; 404 pages. January 2025. Price 320 ghs. Available at EPP Bookshop, University of Ghana, Legon; Kingdom Bookshop UEW, Winneba.

The only things you may have known about Winneba are the Aboakyer Festival and the conglomeration of diploma awarding schools that morphed into a fully-fledged state university. Perhaps you have also heard of the Winneba Youth Choir. But Winneba is much more than these.

In this interesting account, Dr Oheneba Akyeampong tells us everything there is to know about this exceptional town of some 60,000 inhabitants and, in the process, tells us some important historical facts about our country. His main purpose is to account for what makes a community like Winneba survive in all these years – the resilience in the title of this book that was inspired by the University of Virginia’s ‘Resilient Cities’ project. He should know. He was born and brought up in the town and taught Tourism at UCC for several years before retiring.

The oldest known settlers of the area now currently called Ghana are not the Akans or the Asantes. They are not the Gas or Ewes. They are the Guans who moved from the Sahel (around the present day Mali) in the 13^th century in search of better dwelling places. The Gonjas were the largest group which settled in the north. Others continued southwards and formed settlements like Kete Krachi, Nkwanta and the SALL villages, all of them now in the present Oti Region.

The only group that took a westward route and settled on the coast were the Efuttu. They arrived in Winneba before the first Europeans came. But the European presence was to have significant effects on the fortunes of the settlement. It was the British whose influence was strongest because they were the European power that lived longest in the town. Indeed, the name “Winneba” came from the nickname that the British called the place: Windy Bay.

Winneba had everything going for it. It is conveniently situated between the old Gold Coast capital of Cape Coast and the new one of Accra. When in 1928, the colonial government closed all surf ports on the construction of the Takoradi deep sea port, the surf ports in Winneba and James Town, Accra, were left intact. Winneba continued to host the many European merchant houses that were there and attracted even more. Because of the white presence, Winneba had pipe borne water as early as 1922. The town also became a garrison that housed Gold Coast soldiers as they prepared to embark for the Second World War. The atmosphere made it suitable for the town to serve as a sanatorium which laid the grounds for the establishment of a hospital. The place also attracted foreign missionaries.

Our first president, Kwame Nkrumah, loved the place so much that he made it his “summer” hideout from the rigours of governing the country from Accra. Nkrumah placed his prestigious Ideological institute in the town to teach Nkrumaism to all of Africa. The college attracted socialist ideologues from around the continent. Nkrumah pushed resources into his pet project and the facilities at the institute surpassed those in the state-run universities.

Then came the downturns. The closing of the surf port in 1962 robbed Winneba of an essential source of activity and employment. The European merchants left town and, with it, the big international trading houses.

Then Nkrumah was overthrown four years later and the ideological institute was closed down. The adversity in this case was turned into something even better – the Advanced Teacher Training College. The town became a hub of other diploma awarding institutions. And now, there is the big state-sponsored university that has transformed the town. Winneba became the first town in the country that was not a regional capital to house a state university.

The Aboakyer Festival is adequately discussed. We learn of its origins, the difficulties it has faced and its present state and how it inspired other traditional festivals around the country. We also get to know that the Masquerade Festival that has now become popular in Ghana, especially in Takoradi and Tema, started first in Winneba way back in the 1920s. Today, the Takoradi and Tema events gain more national attention than the Winneba one because of the larger populations of these cities. But the Winneba event still remains in its authentic format and is, artistically, the best in the country.

Nkrumah’s special relationship with the town has had its influences on the town’s politics that are still felt today. There was a strong CPP element that eventually turned into a tussle with the anti-Nkrumah forces, especially after his overthrow. Today, the NPP has held the constituency seat for the past four elections.

There is an interesting chapter on the illustrious sons and daughters of Winneba - those who made their marks nationally and internationally. The long list includes Alex Quaison Sackey, Ghana’s first permanent UN representative who became the first African to preside over the General Assembly in 1964. He was with Nkrumah in China when the coup happened. Professors Yanney Ewusie , VC of UCC and author of the popular O Level text, Tropical Biology, Kwamina Dickson, also VC of UCC and author of A Historical Geography of Ghana (1969) and A New Geography of Ghana (1970) all hail from Winneba.

The present Chief Justice, Gertrude Essaba Sackey-Torkonoo, makes the list. Her mother comes from the town. Hon Afenyo-Markin did not make the list. He may have to wait for a future edition of the book.

There is the accusation that Africans do not have written histories of our nations going back a long time. This paucity in the historical account is seen in the book in phrases like “it is believed that…”, “it is said that…” that appear all too often. Akyeampong has done his bit filling in many of such gaps in the history of Winneba. He has also pointed out the areas in which researchers can do further work.

Even though the book is academically written, it is clear enough for any interested reader. Technical terms are well explained. Each chapter is preceded by the main points taken up and ends with a short conclusion of the lessons from the chapter. There are interesting anecdotes neatly put in shaded boxes. The text is not cluttered with encumbering footnotes that will get in the way of the reading. Instead, there is an extensive bibliography and a comprehensive index.

Indigenes of Winneba in particular, and anyone who has had anything to do with the town, will treasure this work. There are not many books written specifically about our cities and towns. Akyeampong’s book offers a blueprint for anyone wanting to embark on such a venture.

Kofi Amenyo ([email protected])