The Quills of the Porcupine: Asante Nationalism in an Emergent Ghana

2. Cocoa and Kotoko: The Origins of the National Liberation Movement

2 Cocoa and Kotoko The Origins of the National Liberation Movement On the 19th of September, 1954, over 40,000 people gathered at the source of the sacred Subin River in Kumase, the capital of the historic Asante empire. Most were dressed in kuntunkuni (traditional funeral cloth) to underscore the gravity of the day's events. As noon approached , the crowd began to shout the age-old battle cry, HAsante Kotoko, woyaa, woyaa yie!" They continued in pulsing fervor until the official state drums called them to silence. At precisely twelve o'clock, a large flag was unfurled before the huge gathering. The flag's green symbolized the rich forests; its gold, the rich mineral deposits which lay beneath the earth; its black, the stools of Asante's cherished ancestors . In the center of the flag stood a large cocoa tree; beneath the tree were a cocoa pod and a porcupine-symbols that could be misinterpreted by none. 1 The cocoa pod represented the major source of wealth in Asarite and the porcupine (kotoko) stood as the historic symbol of the Asante war machine. Like the needles of the porcupine, "wokum apem a, apem be ba" - Hif you kill a thousand, a thousand more will come."2 In the heat ofthe afternoon sun, the crowd listened to a host ofspeakers . They came from every walk of life, from virtually every point on the political spectnlm. They included Nana Bafuor Osei Akoto, senior linguist to the Asantehene; Kofi Buor, Chief Farmer in Asante and a former CPP stalwart; E. Y. BaH'oe, former Director of the CPP government's Cocoa Purchasing Company; Cobbina Kessie, a longtime opponent of Nkrumah and member of the Ghana Congress Party; Bankole AwoonerRenner , a "prison graduate" from the Cpp's days of Positive Action and 16 Cocoa and Kotoko 17 current Chairman of the Muslim Association Party. The speakers seemed to have very little in common. Yet on that day in September they stood together on one platform at the source ofthe Subin River and inaugurated a new movement-the National Liberation Movement. Bafuor Akoto, presented as the leader, read to the mammoth crowd the "Aims and Objects of the Liberation Movement": 1. To banish lawlessness, intimidation, disregard ofage and authority, suppression of individual conscience and all traces of communism. 2. To establish respect for efficiency, integrity, and honest labour. 3. To honour, respect and be loyal to our traditional rulers and uphold the best in our cultures. 4. To secure due recognition of the economic, social and cultural background of the respective regions of the Gold Coast and work out a federal constitution to give them an effective say in the regional and Central Government of the country. 5. To encourage good neighbourliness alTIOng villages, towns and regions. 6. To safeguard the interests of farnlers and workers, and ensure proper incentives for their labours. 7. To quicken the achievement of self governnlent and help build a prosperous , healthy, tolerant, democratic and God-fearing Gold Coast Nation. 8. To fi)ster friendly relations bet\veen the Gold Coast and the Commonwealth and other democratic nations. ACTION: SAVE GOLD COAST FROM DICTATORSHIp3 After the ''Aims and Objects" were read, the Movement's leaders announced their first course of action. A resolution, consisting of three points, was to be forwarded to the governor of the Gold Coast by the Asanteman Council. First, it demanded that the price of cocoa be increased from 72 to 150 shillings per load. Second, it asked that a federal constitution be drawn up for the Gold Coast. Lastly, it reported that the people and the Movement had taken a vote of no confidence in the government of Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention People's Party.4 In many ways, the ''Aims and Objects" and the Movement's first resolutions were in stark contrast to the crowd's activities on that inaugural day. Measured calls for safeguards were issued against a background of black and red mourning cloth, the beating of the tumpan drums, and the shouting of battle cries. Nonetheless, from September 19 on, any predictions of a smooth and orderly transition to full self-government in the Gold Coast were cast into doubt. The 1954 general election was not to be the final elec- 18 Cocoa and Kotoko tion before the granting of independence. Over the next two and a half years, NLM leaders alternated demands for Asante autonomy within...