A Chief Should Not Speak – Except Through His Okyeame!

There are certain axioms in Ghanaian culture which may seem quaint. For instance, a chief should, on formal occasions, only speak through his spokesman, or Okyeame.

In other words, instead of one person making a commitment on behalf of a whole state, town, or village, two people have to do it. The Okyeame would interpret what his chief had said to the gathering in such a way that the policy contained in it could not go contrary to what the Okyeame knew to be the policy of the state, village or town elders.

I wonder where the Okyeame of Tarkwa Nusaem was when his chief, Nana Kwamina Adade the Second, received the Roads and Highways Minister, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Atta, during the Minister's two day working visit in the region. For this is what the chief is reported to have said:

QUOTE: Nana Kwamina Adade II, the Divisional Chief of Tarkwa Nsuaem, has stated that [the] Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party will suffer in the 2020 general elections.

He said the ban on small-scale mining, popularly known as galamsey, will affect the fortunes of the party in the elections…Families are finding it hard to make ends meet, and cater for their wards amongst other things, due to the ban”, he added. UNQUOTE

The question to ask Nana Adade is this: “Nana, sebe oo trafrache, Are you not aware that President Akufo-Addo's government has, under its “road map” (aimed at ending galamsey) trained at least 3,000 small-scale miners at the Tarkwa University of Mines and Technology, at government expense, in methods of mining that do not cause damage to rivers, streams, waterbodies and food farms?

“Nana, have you not heard from those of your subjects who took part in the programme, that they were fed by the government and paid GH¢150 each as travel and transport allowance? Nana, sëbe oo are you in touch with your subjects at all? Or do they hide things from you, and if so, Nana, sëbe oo, why do they do that?

“Finally, Nana, were you not part of, or did you not hear about the forum held by the President in Accra in July 2017, with a large number of chiefs and their retinues 2017 to exchange ideas with them on ending galamsey? In case, sëbe oo, what the President said has escaped your mind, may I remind you of his words?

QUOTE: Rallying Ghana's traditional leaders together, the President said if there is one right thing to be done, that thing is for all to fight galamsey, reclaim the lands and leave for posterity, a “green country” and a “clean space.”

[The President] was addressing a forum against illegal mining organized chiefly to get Ghana's chiefs involved in the fight against illegal mining. It will be recalled that Ghana's future is in a limbo, with a huge chunk of its environment under-siege from boisterous young men and women who are digging every inch of space in the mineral- rich areas of Ghana — in search of gold. They have polluted many rivers, cut down many trees, and destroyed many farms — all in search of gold.

These miners are mostly funded by influential kingpins. Their activities are threatening the very survival of the country, leaving the government no choice but to declare war on galamsey.

On a day that had powerful chiefs all converging for the anti-galamsey forum, the President couldn't have made his intent for the galamsey fight any clearer than vowing to stop it, even if galamsey voters vow to turn against his government.

While he understands that the difficult economic situations in the country sometimes drive people to all lengths just to survive, he said the country cannot sit aloof when its heritage is being plundered. “We all know that we have been in difficult times…But there are things we just can't allow to happen and one of them is the abuse of our heritage,” the President said. The lands, the rivers and the entire Ghanaian space are the country's heritage and the country has a duty to protect it for posterity.

The President added that he “was convinced the galamsey tragedy is perpetrated by a network of politicians, business men and “I dare say, Nananom.” He warned the chiefs that “so dire is the situation that Ghana's neighbours are now complaining of foul river bodies as a result of galamsey activities in Ghana. He disclosed “an embarrassing spectacle” that occurred when the Ivorian President, [Mr Alassane Ouatarrah] in a recent conference attended by Ghanaian Minister of the Environment, Prof. Frimpong Boateng, complained about how Ivorian rivers are beginning to be desecrated as a result of the galamsey activities in Ghana.

“Rivers, waters, forests don't know national boundaries; they run across nations. The activities of Ghanaian illegal miners are jeorpardising the space of our neighbours,” the President said.

“Rivers that have been with us for centuries are drying up,” he said, adding that it is time to end this debacle. It will be a betrayal of the trust imposed on me if I fail to end this,” he stated. The President concluded: [I've called you because] “We cannot win this fight without the traditional support of [you our] chiefs. For any serious project, if you are not involved, it doesn't happen.” UNQUOTE

So, Nana Kwamina Adade, if you want your people to continue engaging in galamsey until they have to buy sachet water before they can cook food to eat, that is, sëbe oo, your privilege. But please stop issuing emotional blackmail warnings to Akufo-Addo about the 2020 elections. He knows the score.

He will do what is right. And since the country is sebe oo, not made up entirely of fools, he does not need to worry.

cameronduodu.com
By Cameron Duodu