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MFANTSE POLITICAL ORGANIZATION From an analytical viewpoint the political organization of the Mfantse states is seen to consist of two components: a Stoolholding component coming from below and dealing with the distribution of authority; and an Officeholding component coming from above and modelled on the military command structure. Stoolholding Because inherently authority arises from control over land, positions of authority are territorially based, commonly occurring at three levels, to wit: 1. the position of the Odikro at the village level; 2. the position ofthe Ohene at the level of a group of villages or of a more important centre; 3. the position of the Omanhene, the Paramount Chief, at the level of the state ( = Oman). At times there may be a fourth level of authority in between that of the Omanhene and the Ohene. In such a case the state is divided into a number of sub-divisions each headed by a sub-chief having his own court and his own Council of Elders. Becoming a Chief is to become enstooled, i.e. to be given custody over the Stool as an ancestral shrine by 'being put upon it'. This emphasizes the fact that the author~ty of a Chief is inferred authority which, because it is authority over land, goes back to the members and elders of the landowning families. This is very clear in the case of the Odikro who is selected by the leading Ebusua Mpanyinfo or lineage heads. It is true that the selection is often, but not always, limited to certain members of one particular family, but it nevertheless makes the Odikro much more aprimus inter pares who represents the landed interests of a community than a ruler. For any Chief, the incumbency of a Stool holds that he derives his authority from the common people and from the Elders who represent them. Chiefs at all levels, also therefore at the State level, are responsible to the common people who have the final word in their election and who have also the right ultimately to destool them. That this is a real and not an illusory force can be seen from the fact that when by the Native Jurisdiction Ordinance of 1883 the Chiefs and their Councils were given the competence to make Bye Laws, this was putto very little use because the enactment of any unpopular Bye-Laws might, and in some cases did, result in their destoolment. This was not significantly changed until the Native Authority Ordinance of llO
1944 - and by then Ghana, or rather: the Gold Coast, had experienced 70 years of colonial domination - introduced the appointment and gazetting of 'Native Authorities' (= chiefs and their councils) by the Governor of the Colony. The effect ofthis was to make the position ofthe Paramount Chiefs more stable. Office Holding As we have already pointed out, an appointment to any ofthe offices which form the second, office holding component, is from above; that is, by the Paramount Chief in whom the power of the state is vested. In fact, these Offices are mainly those ofthe divisional army commanders to which the Omanhene, exercising his powers of commander-in-chief will usually appoint some of the more important territorial stoolholders. In the Akan military organization there are seven such divisional commanders or 'wing chiefs': i.e. 1. the'TWafohene, or commander of the vanguard; 2. the Adontsenhene, or commander of the main body of the army; 3. the Nifa (or: Nyimfa-)hene, commander of the right wing; 4. the Benkumhene, or commander of the left wing; 5. the Nkyidomhene, or commander of the rearguard; 6. theAnkobeahene, or commander of the body guard; and 7. the Thfuhene, or commander of the Asafo companies. In addition there are two offices belonging to the so- called 'Gyase'-group, i.e. offices within the royal household ofthe Chief which carry considerable weight. One is that of the Gyasehene in the past often filled by a slave - the Court Chamberlain who, as leader of the Chief's household, commands the different groups of servants (such as hornblowers, sword bearers, drummers) and who looks after the paraphernalia (the State Sword, the palanquin, the State umbrella, etc.). The other office is that of the Omankyeame, the Chief's spokesman - of which usually there are several - who speak at public meetings for the Chief and deliver the verdicts in court. They are the Chief's diplomatic representatives; it is only through the spokesmen that others, be they chiefs or commoners, have access,to him. It is the Office holders who sit on the State Council of which neither theAdikrofo (plural of Odikro) nor theAhene (Plural of Ohene) are regular members; they only attend when invited to discuss particular matters. If, therefore, the Odikro of Abura-Dunkwa has a seat on the State Council it is because he holds the office ofNifahene to the Abura Omanhene. In case the Paramount Chief would, as he was asked to do, return the Dunkwa III
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· 1\\m\I~\II~~\IIII~\i!~\\\! t~~es
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The views expressed in this publica
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research coul
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INTRODUCTORY NOTE When Emile Vercru
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I A BRIEF INTRODUCTION 10 THE PROBL
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agricultural productivity has reach
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Notes 1. Keith Griffin (1979) has c
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Most fallow land around Abura-Dunkw
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field which has been reaped; in the
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shelled pail by pail whenever it is
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Notes I. Quotations in this paragra
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HI ON THE SOClIAL RELATIONS OF PEAS
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- whether or not they have control
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tion was transformed into the tribu
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ges in exploitation and exploiters
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of a state government, both involve
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other words, exploitation is now in
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There is now fairly general recogni
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must now move to a much more concre
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12. According to Christensen (1954:
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IV AKAN LAND TENURE ARRANGEMENTS: A
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most if not all accounts of customa
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person (usually, but not always, a
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land. This intervening role ofthe e
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deemed abandoned after non-occupati
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Ch.III; Reindorf 1895; Kimble 1963)
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ered in that it had nearly brought
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purposes, and to subjects of other
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Notes 1. The first edition of Mensa
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v THEABURA-DUNKWA FAMILY LANDS AND
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anyone to acquire a right to farmla
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Equally, the land held (or claimed)
Page 69 and 70: eiterated that, consequent on their
Page 71 and 72: admitting that Nana Quansah was the
Page 73 and 74: emotions than anything else because
Page 75 and 76: Cape Coast where the case was down
Page 77 and 78: for him must be cancelled: It must
Page 79 and 80: Adwenadze: present-day descendants
Page 81 and 82: TableS: The Nnamfodo Lands and Thei
Page 83 and 84: It may be useful to point out that
Page 85 and 86: land (specifically: Kukubir 1 and 2
Page 87 and 88: 6 . Swearing an oath to an Akan mea
Page 89: 20. As we have explained in Ch.I1,
Page 92 and 93: homogeneous in terms of quality (gr
Page 94 and 95: tion of sample cases over the four
Page 96 and 97: (Dawurampon) is all there is availa
Page 98 and 99: 4. Auxiliary Rules for Allocating F
Page 100 and 101: Table 11: Farmers on Family Land of
Page 102 and 103: portion oftheir own family land may
Page 104 and 105: From Table 14 we see that apart fro
Page 106 and 107: together with annual tenancies at l
Page 108 and 109: - a proportionally larger part of t
Page 110 and 111: Hypothesis 4: Ignoring the uncultiv
Page 112 and 113: in the part played in the allocatio
Page 114 and 115: approval and cooperation of the oth
Page 116 and 117: 7. 'Total Acreage' in Thble 17 refe
Page 119: APPENDIX A SOME NOTES ON MFANTSE PO
Page 123 and 124: APPENDIXB OVERVIEW OF THE ARUBA-DUN
Page 125 and 126: NSONAMBUSUA 30. Kodju Dadzie Ekrofu
Page 127 and 128: APPENDIXC RANK CORRELATION BETWEEN
Page 129: RANK CORRELATION: Calculation rho =
Page 132 and 133: TnbleA.l Allocation of Farming Righ
Page 135 and 136: APPENDIXE THE FIELDWORK AND ITS IMP
Page 137 and 138: extent to which they were under cul
Page 139 and 140: people could not acquire land throu
Page 141: 2. Results of the farm operations q
Page 144 and 145: Casely Hayford, J.E. (1903) Gold Co
Page 146 and 147: O'Brien, J. (1979) The Political Ec
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