Historian Yaw Anokye Frimpong has decried the criticisms often levelled against the Asantes by factions in the Ghanaian public.

According to him, Asantes deserve the praises given to them because of the important role they played in the history of Ghana and the African continent as a whole.

Anokye Frimpong, who made these remarks in an audio slide shared on Facebook by The Asante Nation, said that Asantes are the only tribe in Africa who fought the British colonial masters and actually killed a British governor.

“If you mention the name of Asantes, people become angry but in reality, the history of Ghana is divided into only three parts. The first part is the Fantes, they are the ones who welcomed the Whites, who built the forts and castles we see in the country and also schooling started there, so they produced scholars.

“From there, you can talk about the things Kwame Nkrumah came to do. But when we talk about the real history of Ghana, it is Asante history. Throughout Africa, they were the only people who fought the Whites more than five times. They even cut off the head of Sir Charles McCarthy, a White governor. Not even the Zulus were able to do this. South Africa, East Africa, nowhere in Africa was anybody able to do this,” he said in the Twi dialect.

He added, “So, we must give honour and praise to whom it is due. If you do that you don’t lose anything. When it is your turn, someone will also praise you. And so for Asantes, you can’t exclude them from anything in Africa, it won’t work. They are the only tribe White people name their children after.”

The historian admonished the public to learn to accept the praises and attention given to Asantes because it is well deserved.

“Asante is part of us. It is just like saying that Nkrumah did well, Rawlings has done well… and so when they are being praised, it should not be an issue for any person.”

Lawyer Anokye Frimpong also noted that the language of Asantes, the Twi dialect, nearly became Ghana’s lingua franca during the era of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah but for the greediness of some members of a committee set up to look into it.

He indicated that even though the committee found that about 80 percent of Ghanaians were fluent in Twi, some of its members wanted their language to be used as the national language.

Listen to his comments in the post below:



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