A history of political contestation in the Fante state of Gomoa Ajumako, 1926 to 1981.

Abstract

This thesis examines the political contestation in Gomoa Ajumako from 1926 to 1981. It employs historical research approach to contextualize the most important historical events of the Gomoa Ajumako people. The study argued that a key cause of chieftaincy succession dispute in Gomoa Ajumako can be traced to the Anglo-Asante war of 1863, known as the Battle of Bibikuma. This battle led to the emergence of the Nyarful Krampah’s lineage that ascended the Gomoa Ajumako paramount stool for almost sixty-one years as caretakers of the state before the dispute. The contests for the ownership of the paramount stool began in 1926 after a grandson of Apata Kofi got hold of the state sword. However, the attempt made by the Apata Kofi’s lineage to regain their status as paramount stool family was challenged at the court of the District Commissioner of the British Gold Coast colony in Winneba. This was because for sixty-one years the Nyarful Krampah’s lineage occupied the position as the paramount stool family. However, long occupation of an ancestral stool by a particular family as caretakers does not make such family owners/royals to the stool. On the other hand, belonging to the royal family also does not guarantee a member of the royal family an automatic qualification to ascend an ancestral stool. Therefore, an explanation to such a long period of interregnum from the Apata Kofi’s lineage was set down in the Akan socio-political principles of succession, particularly, on the eligibility of royals to ascend an ancestral stool. In addition, apart from the two contesting lineages as victims of the contest, the contest over the ownership of the paramount stool has had numerous impacts on the people of Gomoa Ajumako. These include loss of lives and property, loss of important traditions of Gomoa Ajumako state as new traditions have been invented, psychological trauma on destooled chiefs from the two contesting families, among others. In conclusion, the dispute was underpinned largely by the societal principles regarding membership to a family, status of children, and mode of succession/inheritance in Gomoa Ajumako