In early 2014, various media platforms in Ghana were left abuzz after a video of the District Chief Executive of the Ahafo-Ano-South District in the Ashanti Region, Gabriel Barima uttering three words that etched itself in the memory of the country.

For those who have not seen the infamous video, Mr Barima, during an end-of-year programme for the District Health Directorate at Mankranso, was giving a speech when he made a statement to which an unidentified person amid laughter said “tweaa.”

The word, however, did not go down well with Barima, who tried identifying the culprit behind the remark.

In a mixture of Twi and English, Mr Barima repeatedly questioned, “Who said ‘tweaa’? Am I your size?... I have been given the platform to talk. You were not given the platform to talk. And so, what you are saying, nobody is listening except mine.”

“Am I your colleague? Do you think you’re my colleague?... You sit somewhere and behave like you’re talking to your co-equal. Am I your co-equal? If you’re a hospital worker, who are you? Why do you have to behave in that manner? I’ve ended my speech. I’m not talking again. If you don’t respect people…I’m not talking again. Take your programme.”

He was then seen throwing the microphone down and storming off the stage only to return minutes afterwards.

Convinced that the culprit was a staff of the hospital, the DCE stated, “You are a staff at the hospital and so what? I will never come to your hospital again.

“I won’t come to your hospital for you to display gross disrespect towards me. I can go to any hospital that I want.”

Still fuming, he said it was his dead body that would be brought to Mankranso Government Hospital, and then added sarcastically, “Even mortuary, you don’t have here.”

Barima initially received forgiveness after he apologised for his actions in a later interview. However, he was dismissed a month later after he was heard in an interview describing the incident as an ‘achievement.’

In November 2014, Mr Gabriel Barimah was reinstated after an investigation by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

The video, however, became a major piece of Ghanaian pop culture, with the statement being used in various movies, songs, speeches and comments by many notable individuals in the country.

The statement even has a Wikipedia page of its own.

Till today, nobody knows the one who said “Tweaa.”

See the video here:



ID/ ADG

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