Thursday, March 26, 2009

"tribalistic" me!

Pal,
there's a lot of tribal talk in the land territory called Ghana now!

here, here, here etc... and i mention it as if it has not been the case for all the existence of man and woman on earth! so is the story of Adam and Eve so true??? or is the Bible just sharing a "toli" (fairytale?)???

suddenly it's as if people are just rediscovering where they ever belonged in the first place! could we have chosen where to belong before birth???

i have no problem with any 'tribesman' who talks tribe! at all!!! tribes certainly are identifiable groupings that could yield development! a gun is not necessarily a bad thing see? i gun can kill a man and a gun can be used to hunt down meat or beast! see? don't we cherish our school associations? don't black men see themselves as one 'against' white men? tribes certainly would have common concerns!

I AM NO BELIEVER IN LOYALTY TO ANY FORM OF ASSOCIATION! not old school, not the pussy cat lovers association, not my tribe, not the pan-african call! i believe in personal independence more! my mum could only be my biological mum! my believes and actions must certainly be based on my person! I'M JUST SO DIS-LOYAL to a sharp ERECTION and that's just why i cannot belong to a political party!

i accept that we all come from somewhere? where i don't know really! but we sure do have our differences! and so what??? even though i have to to believe that i need not make a big deal out of my roots i would accept and respect anyone who sings about his/her heritage or tribe or father once that song does not say others are less human!!! i might even dance to the tune if it tickles me enough and i don't even need to understand! and i'm not only talking about songs literally!

i belong to a group of Ewe people called Gbi out of the many different Ewe groups like Anlo, Ve, Tongu (the north and south of which is noted for magical electoral numbers) etc... and yet you have to divide the Gbi people into two- Gbi-nyigbe (Peki area) and Gbi-dzigbe (Hohoe area) and further divide and divide and divide and.... before you could locate my biological roots with some (yes some!) precision! i can promise you it won't be an easy task if you attempt it pal!

i remember whilst i was growing up, the folks from my village held a meeting at my uncles place and were debating whether to use their welfare contributions to buy guns to defend themselves just in case a neighbouring village decided to attack them over LAND! and both villages are Gbi.

i remember having serious physical fights with my one and only blood brother (same mother, same father!) when we were kids! we stopped fighting a long time ago! i remember too that i decided not to speak with a cousin of mine and this lasted over 10 years without our parents really knowing what was happening! that was when we were still barely teens!

i remember that like the Ewe boy that i am i attended school in an Akan area and yes i did experience some discrimination by some mates of mine but even then i started realizing that it was all born out of whatever misconceptions!

i remember too that not too long ago, an uncle of mine warned my brother vehemently never to go in for an Akan woman for a wife else he would never attend his marriage engagements! how stupid i thought of him 'fondly'!

yet i have family relations who are married to Akans. and i might just land an akan babe myself! who knows and sure i would make love to her massive with all the senses within me! i'd cherish her too! i mean 'odo asem'...'odo tintan' (love web)!

so is it not POSSIBLE that the kids of Obama might just grow up to think that they have absolutely nothing in common with folks in Kenya! and so what? however sadly so me wonder!

now i've grown and i ask myself: what at all hasn't happened before on this earth??? why are people making so much capital out of where they belong or come from???

recently i heard an uncle of mine who happens to be an osofo of the rank of a Bishop in the Catholic 'of Roman' setup coming out to say that Ewes and Akans are great friends and i wondered what fantasy this man could be dreaming up??? i screamed that is not true!! unless he's seeing something in the 'osofo-realm' that obviously would escape me for all my non-religious commitments!!!

imagine pal, would you call EVEN America and Isreal GREAT friends??? they may be GREAT allies for whatever common interest but friendship that is great...??? would you say??? so what's this take on Ewes and Akans that only amounts to my osofo-uncle tickling himself and laughing with 'pastoral fantacy'???

I CANNOT and would not SAY AKANS AND EWES ARE ENEMIES BUT TO SAY THAT THEY ARE GREAT (and GREAT is really great a word) IS ONLY FAR ENOUGH FROM THE REALITY!!!

why won't people face the bare facts and just be sincere instead of trying to massage some fantacy bones (i love this word fantacy now!)!

KUFUOR'S OFFICE:
so one man at the centre of all the controversy about tribal land and all happens to be Kufuor my dear!

what should simply be a procedural matter has turned out to have set the stage for tribal punches! no big deal me think!

but what are the bare facts? Kufuor needs office and must be given office by state right? so let it be done and simple as that!

aparently Kufuor took office for himself before asking for it? that's an interesting one! some say the government should have ensured that it never came into the public domain and they claim to be expects but me i think they are jokers cos what won't come into the public domain no matter how??? even Mills Castle prayer camp comes into the public domain! Kufuor's Gizzelle Yaji came into the public domain! so what?

so there's banter between Mills' admin and opposition and one PV is supposed to tell something which is not clear enough and National Security wades in to say they are taking charge! i pause: pal, i am no fun of no power play i keep saying! the last time Kufuor's francis Poku was being 'debriefed' under-house arrest i saw foolishness! now too there appear to be foolishness on same part of so called national security! what is so special about a house in the middle of the capital to warrant National security making mountains out of it??? someone is smoking weed!!!

so some Ga youth meanwhile claim they would eject Kufuor cos they feel cheated over their own land! Ga youth like any other youth of Ghana has right to definitely speak on Ghana matters because they are Ga youth and because they are Ghana youth for that matter authomatically! BUT i pause again pal: i agree with any Ga man/woman who thinks that Ga LAND is being giving out for all sorts of things to their disadvantage! i wonder how many other places in this same country could land be treated like in Ga! i wonder if even my village would allow! but it is true that under the provisions of Ghana constitution it would be illegal for Ga youth to attempt ejecting Kufuor FORCEFULLY from the office!

meanwhile what is refreshing for me is the fact that Kufuor has a PRIVATE HOUSE on Ga land and yet Ga youth have not said they would eject him from there too! his son too bought a hotel on Ga land! so what? so i love to put this matter in real perspective! we must separate no matter how 'tribalistically' cloudy what is legal from what is not under our bogus constitution! what the Ga youth have complained about about Kufuor is the office! not his private house!

how different is the Ga youth tribal outcry from the Ashantis who are calling Kufuor to come home? Ga say go away because you don't belong with us...Ashanti say come home because you belong with us! what is the difference really??? but i've hardly heard folks call the the cry of the Ashanti group tribalistic! both cases are based on belonging pal!

i am still an Ewe and I wouldn't go calling Kufuor to vacate a government building in my hometown just because i'm an Ewe! I will do so if i feel he MUST simply because i'm a human being like him and like Osama Bin Ladin who must be treated fairly and rightly! But Ga youth chooseS to say because they are Gas and that is their right and so be it! there's nothing wrong with it no matter how IRRELEVANT I find that posturing! beyond that is the issue of legality and proper procedure and that is what we should concern ourselves with more!

so for patriots of Western region to also rise though there's nothing wrong still in representing one's tribe or region is really funny! funny because their argument is really cheap! they claim Kufuor is being 'banished' which is far from the truth! remember pal, that Ga youth have not told Kufuor not to ever step on Ga land again! they have not said so! Kufuor still lives in his house which is on Ga land! and the Werstern Region rep says “If other people think others cannot own properties on their lands because they are not indigenes,..." and that is only a stomach directional reply to Gas pal! because pal, i'm just in the process of acquiring a portion of Ga land under my name and i'm no indigene!

if Kufuor has done wrong let's all deal with him! simple as that! and if anyone chooses to play up his tribe let the rest be tolerant of it! simple! it's no big deal!

and we all know that the Ga people themselves sell their lands like there's no tomorrow! so why wont people address the core of issues instead of playing like spoilt kids!!! i wonder still!

pal, this issue has been gnawing at me for fat too long and i would fill the whole of blogger's space i guess if i continue! i've always wanted to write something about tribalism anyway and i just got the jolt and my thanks goes out to all who are making nonsense out of it for whatever interests in that regard!

i must just end this some where even if abrupt (really abrupt??? hehehehe)!

stay well pal!

4 comments:

Adaeze said...

I so feel you on the issue about people being caugh up in where they come from. Have a loyal erection though, lol
On a more serious note, as I said, I agreed. I come from such a mixed background myself that I could not identify myself with any country or nationality - I've always been an outsider and had friends from around the world and found a husband from a different culture. I can confidently say I am what you can call a very international person, lol.
BEing on that side of things, I have observed quite a lot of what you're talking about - and I understand that people take pride in where they come from, and I don't mind continuing that, nevertheless I think it's silly to care too much. Mind you it's what have caused conflicts since..forever..And if you think geneology you see that all human beings have emigrated around the world, over and over again. The cradle of humanity is the continent of Africa, the native americans crossed over from Asia in ancient times, the igbos of Nigeria they say emigrated from Israel and Egypt, and then a group of them emigrated to Fiji islands, people who now see themselves as fijians..or whatever you'd call it. Anyway the lists goes on and on I think ultimately in front of God we are all human beings. End of story. We drew the borders.

posekyere said...

There is such a mess all around.
I believe that bigotry and prejudice are the parents of all the injustices and hatred we read about throughout the world.
The concept of nationhood must be promoted over and above that of the tribes.
Unless we do that I really fear that conflict will be inevitable between different tribes.

novisi said...

wow! Adaeze,
thanks so much for the rich comment! we certainly drew the borders (so artificial too) and in front of God we are all humans!

i'm particularly trilled by your exposition on the Igbos! those are one group of people i've taken some interest in too! their system of governance (leadership) and all!

now, i've learned a lot!

you more than prove that you are an international person!

thanks again!

novisi said...

hi Posekyere,
it's so true there's just too much mess all about!

we need to respect the every human being no matter the origin!