Neither Kente nor Komfo Anokye- A History Built on Covetuousness andFalse Narrative

There is no where in our history where Ewes were ever credited for Kente. Not in Ghana's history and not even their history. Back in school, the only three popular stories about the group were King Agorkoli, Togbe Tsali's and the Hogbetsotso festival.

Surprisingly, these days we don't even hear noise about these three. Unless of course some of their so-called educated yet covetuous gang leaders are claiming what isn't theirs.

From Okomfo Anokye, Awukugua 's pride and Asanteman's eye, being Togbe Tsali's brother to they suddenly owning Kente. The thing is, for a group where some tout themselves as the most educated, I do not even know how they came about that gibberish when statistics show otherwise (Most likely because the heads of the ewe hegemony even pushed the uneducated amongst them to fill up the civil and security services in order to push their hate agenda), you will think they will do a little reading into this before paying bloggers and their fixers in local and media houses to spread such hogwash.

First, Togbe Tsali lived in an entirely different century from Komfo Anokye. While history clearly tells this and where they both were from, isn't it surprising that amid this fact, they will still run on with the hogwash? Ironically, they first casted doubt on the existence of Okomfo Anokye and when they couldn't bury his impact on Asanteman, they began claiming him. What sort of evil driven agenda makes one sow seeds of discord amongst a people just to assume some false relevance, seeing everything as a competition and rallying other minority tribes in their hateful agenda.

Second, nowhere in Ewe's history has there ever been a mention of Kente. The Ewes had a horizontal borderless type of woven cloths, similar to the Fugu, which some historical records attribute to their encounter with the Asantes. In case you didn't know, the Anlos fought alongside the Asantes to defeat the other Ewe groups (In case you didn't know there are divisions, there are).

In fact, this military alliance formed in the 1750s was sought after the Anlos who consulted the then Asantehene (mind you, Asante Kente already existed at this time and our kings were clad in them) to help him fight off some ewe groups as well as the Adas and Akyems in the region. In the late 1880s (1869-1872), the Agotime-Asante war happened where Asante fought alongside Anlos to defeat their enemies.

This interaction between the group led to the creation of Anloga junction and what would be a long standing relationship between the groups. The Anlos also learnt weaving from the Asantes at same point. However, theirs was different, a horizontal loom like the fugu, which they called Agbomovi. There still are a lot of Ewes even today in Bonwire and Adanwomanse learning our class of weaving.

Up until recently, there was nothing like Kente amongst them until some vultures, sadly educated yet illiterate vultures, decided to use same. There is nothing wrong in adopting the name used by the people you learnt from but there is everything wrong with claiming ownership of something you learnt elsewhere. That is something you will never see Asante do, they pay homage and give reverence to any group that has become a part of their journey including whatever they learnt or took from them.

You will think after the Asante Kingdom, the most talked about kingdom will be the Dagbons, another great kingdom considering their exploits. Aside the Togbe Tsali story, are there any exploits that need mentioning or celebrating which should warrant their attention instead of the sick attempt of sowing discord to be relevant?

We must rid ourselves of hypocrisy and be ready to confront the truth head-on, lest people who thrive on covetuousness, amid no historical or present evidence, hide behind the only tool they normally use, political power, to destroy as usual.

Do some reading and stop hiding behind your political offices to influence international media houses like BBC News Africa and bloggers to spread hogwash.

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