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[For a complete overview of Abura-Dunkwa lineages, their membership
and their lands, and places of origin, see Appendix B.]
2. Tbe Dunkwa Lands as a Unity
As we have seen, the 31 family lands are somehow seen to make up the
Abura- Dunkwa 'territory', an expression which should not be taken as
meaning that at any time these lands have formed a political unity fitted
with some degree of independence or autonomy. If anything it indicates the
identification of these lands, but of no others/ as 'Abura-Dunkwa lands',
which entails a historical connection resulting from prolonged residence,
between the mbusua who own the lands and the township of Abura­
Dunkwa.
This connection is expressed most clearly in the functions of the
Mpayinfo and/or Asasewuranom of the land-owning mbusua as so-called
Mboboanofo (singular: Aboboanonyi = doorkeeper) within the native
administration of Abura State. As 'elders of the town' they decide in unison
with the Odikro (from 'odi' = he governs, and 'kurow' = village, town) or
headman what the needs of the town are and how these could be met. They
also form a kind of centrifugal structure in that they pass onto their family
members the wishes and directives of the Odikro which he has
communicated to them in council. Those heads of family who, by virtue
of some special office which they fulfil, such as that of Kyeame (linguist)
or Thfuhene (the chief over all the Asafo companies), already have a
connection with the Paramount Stool of their own, are not among the
Mboboanofa. This also applies to the heads of those families that do not
hold the land which they cultivate as family land, but hold farming rights
granted to them directly by the Paramount Stool, which is to say that they
are in fact farming on Stool land. Consequently, the Dunkwa council of
Mboboanofo consists at most of 22 Mpanyinfo and/or Asasewuranom;
of some ofthese, however, we have not been able to establish with certainty
that they are regularly invited to participate.
The 'belonging together' of the township of Dunkwa and its lands
does not imply that the inhabitants of Abura-Dunkwa farm on these lands
and on no others. With so many of the lineages resident at Dunkwa holding
no family land there (62 0/0), many oftheir members cultivate on such Stool
lands as Owarakesem, Sikabiw and Esamang, as well as on the lands of
certain sub-chiefs, such as those of Edumfa, Odonase and Obohen.
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