Federation of Consuls President sheds tears at Assin-Manso

The President of the World Federation of Consuls Mr Arnold Foote, who is currently in Ghana for the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Federation on Tuesday shed tears when he visited the historical town of Assin-Manso, where the remain of two former slave ancestors Crystal and Carson, from Jamaica and the united Sates, have been interred.

Adorned in a black traditional mourning cloth and native sandals to match, Mr Foote, a Jamaican, laid a wreath each on the tombs of Crystal and Carson, paid tribute to his ancestral land, and shed the tears in the middle of an address at a mini durbar of the chiefs and people of the Assin-Apimanim traditional area.

Mr Foote, who was accompanied by his wife Patricia and Mr Amarkai Amarteifio, Swedish Consul- General in Ghana and Vice-President of the Federation, also visited the slave river or 'Ndokonsu' where slaves brought from the hinterland were given their last baths before being shipped off, and remarked that he felt “revived and humbled” after he had stepped into the river.

He also paid glowing tribute to “the two ancestors and all those who paid the ultimate price by exchanging their lives to free all slaves” and was hopeful that the monument in the town will remain a strong link between Jamaica and Ghana.

He said some similarities in Jamaican and Ghanaians names, food and towns, as well as in the construction of mud houses, were indications that most Jamaicans were from Ghana.

When he was taken through the Slave Receptive Centre by Mr Eric Ohene Larbi, District Cultural Director, to see some of the shackles used for the slaves, Mr Foote exclaimed “this is inhuman, its time for paying back!”.

For his part, Barima Nkyi, Omanhene of the area, gave a brief history of the town, which he said will forever serve as a monument for people of African descent to trace their roots.

He observed that the history of the slave trade could never be wiped off, but will be re-told time and time again to generations yet unborn, for them to appreciate what their ancestors went through to serve as a unifying bond to those at home and in the Diaspora.

The Assin-Manso township, reportedly played a major role in the transporting and merchandise of slaves during the slave period, and so the tombs of two former slaves, Crystal from Jamaica and Samuel Carson from the US who were said to have traced the ancestral roots to Ghana, have been erected as a monument for Africans in the Diaspora to pay homage to.