Abstract:
This thesis examines the political contestation in Gomoa Ajumako from 1926 to 1981.
It employs historical research approach to contextualize the most important historical
events of the Gomoa Ajumako people. The study argued that a key cause of
chieftaincy succession dispute in Gomoa Ajumako can be traced to the Anglo-Asante
war of 1863, known as the Battle of Bibikuma. This battle led to the emergence of the
Nyarful Krampah’s lineage that ascended the Gomoa Ajumako paramount stool for
almost sixty-one years as caretakers of the state before the dispute. The contests for
the ownership of the paramount stool began in 1926 after a grandson of Apata Kofi
got hold of the state sword. However, the attempt made by the Apata Kofi’s lineage to
regain their status as paramount stool family was challenged at the court of the
District Commissioner of the British Gold Coast colony in Winneba. This was
because for sixty-one years the Nyarful Krampah’s lineage occupied the position as
the paramount stool family. However, long occupation of an ancestral stool by a
particular family as caretakers does not make such family owners/royals to the stool.
On the other hand, belonging to the royal family also does not guarantee a member of
the royal family an automatic qualification to ascend an ancestral stool. Therefore, an
explanation to such a long period of interregnum from the Apata Kofi’s lineage was
set down in the Akan socio-political principles of succession, particularly, on the
eligibility of royals to ascend an ancestral stool. In addition, apart from the two
contesting lineages as victims of the contest, the contest over the ownership of the
paramount stool has had numerous impacts on the people of Gomoa Ajumako. These
include loss of lives and property, loss of important traditions of Gomoa Ajumako
state as new traditions have been invented, psychological trauma on destooled chiefs
from the two contesting families, among others. In conclusion, the dispute was
underpinned largely by the societal principles regarding membership to a family,
status of children, and mode of succession/inheritance in Gomoa Ajumako
Description:
A Thesis in the Department of History Education, Faculty of Social Science
Education, Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of
Master of Philosophy
(History Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba
JULY, 2019
