A NEW AHANTA IS BORN!!!

A new born baby being held in warm palms

A new Ahanta is born! Born in a new age. Born to take advantage of the new age of revolution sweeping through the world. Born at a time when many people, especially Ahantas themselves, have given up on anything good coming out of Ahanta.

The new Ahanta is born to rebrand the tattered image of the Sweet Mother Ahanta; the image which was torn apart by apathy, jealousy, and hatred amongst Ahantas of old.

The new Ahanta inspires hope of a better future for the Ahantaman in that small Ahanta village of Cape Three Point. My joy is ‘over-the-skies’ at how the new Ahanta is passionate and concerned of Ahanta’s progress.

My joy is full because I have yearned and struggled for this day for far too long, just like the many Ahantas who share the same passion.

Our struggles are about to end with the birth of this new Ahanta.

This new Ahanta, I speak fondly of, is the new attitude the Ahanta man has discovered.

Several years ago, when I was a very young boy, my grand mum, who loves Ahanta soo much, used to tell me why it is imperative for Ahanta to rediscover itself, unite its children and fight to reclaim its lost glory.

My grand mum, through her narrations about Ahanta, and training me to love my land, created in me, a personality that is so concerned about ‘everything Ahanta’.

I have grown to love Ahanta partly due to my grandma. As I grew up, my love for Ahanta became very intense and romantic.

However, growing into a young man, I realised something terrible about Ahanta; not many of its own children were proud of being her children (Ahantas). This was so for several reasons.

One of them was the entrenched hatred amongst Ahantas of old, which resulted in them eliminating themselves through ‘juju’.

This had led to several people making mockery of anyone who identified him/herself as an Ahanta. This forced several Ahantas, many of whom I know, to refuse to be identified with Ahanta. This hurt me badly!! I always couldn’t phantom why people with their sane minds should behave that way.

Many were the times I had to get into serious arguments with some of my friends about the Ahanta identity. Some relationships of mine were severed because my partners weren’t too happy about identifying with Ahanta.

There have been instances when friends of mine traveled to places such as Accra and Tema, and were always speaking Twi to me anytime we spoke on phone. I had to one day warn a friend of mine to speak Ahanta or I don’t call him, or pick his calls again.

Those times, I was hurting inside and I felt very bad to have this happening in my time. My love for Ahanta was been bruised by the same people I thought could have stood for Ahanta. But I knew that all will be well someday.

About some few months ago, some friends of mine and I had a chat about creating a vibrant tool to champion Ahantas development.

We had to start a pressure group that can keep our leaders in Ahanta in check.  After a short telephone discussion, the Ahanta Tertiary Graduates for Development (TEGRAD) was born.

TEGRAD was giving several objectives. One of them was to serve as a think-tank to strategise on how to push Ahanta to the limelight. How were we going to do that?

The team that discussed the birth of this new group knew themselves very well; they were graduates from various tertiary institutions across Ghana, and the globe. With this knowledge, they knew exactly how they can achieve their objectives.

This was the time that social media had become a great weapon in mobilising resources-both human and material- to champion a cause, of course worthy ones.

They therefore employed the inexplicable services of social media, specifically whatsapp, to raise the awareness about the group and to increase their membership.

Their membership drive swept through Ahanta like wild fire; reaching every corner of the land and extending its tentacles to the Ahanta brothers and sisters on the other side of the ocean. Soon its membership grew tremendously. Its scent zoomed into all parts of Ahanta like a powerful scented ladies’ spray.

The group started to act on its founding philosophies, and with results already trickling inn, it became attractive to many people to join. 

The reason was simple; at long last a machinery that can champion the course of Ahantas and serve as a mouth piece of the very mute land, has arrived! And indeed TEGRAD was very committed and dedicated to giving a voice to Ahanta.

The group’s first action was to intervene in the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer for Ahantaman Rural Bank, a local bank in Ahanta. Their request was a simple one; please appoint someone who will have the interest of Ahanta at heart, preferably an indigene, since this is a rural bank. 

The Board of Directed hesitated at the beginning because according to them they knew what they were doing. Eventually, it had to show it is a listening board. So the interest of the Ahanta man was honoured. 

The group was indeed serving the interests of Ahantas and giving them a VOICE!

Then came one faithful Sunday, 3^rd August, 2014. The group had convened a meeting to discuss how the Ahanta language can be promoted.

The meeting was just awesome. It epitomised the hunger of a group of people who needed a medium to show their tiredness of being too silent.

Prior to the meeting, the deliberations of the group members on whatsApp sent a very strong message; The Ahanta man has rediscovered himself. He is born anew! He is ready to tackle his own problems and find lasting solutions to them.

The participation at the said meeting was just great; we had a Professor coming all the way from the University of Education, Winneba to attend, and we had the two strong people who had stood behind the Ahanta Translation Project, all this while, in attendance.

We had wonderful trainers of the Ahanta language, extra-ordinary education officers, and above all, very enthused Ahantas who are willing to have their language projected to the very highest height, attending.

The New SPIRIT of the Ahanta man, which had been conceived for some months, was born that day!

Throughout the deliberations, one could see the reincarnation of the spirit of our forefathers that brought many glories to the land of Twins, Ahanta. In case you did not know, Ahanta literally means ‘the land of Twins’.

I was particularly mesmerised by the enthusiasm of the Ahanta to see things change in his/her environment. The zeal was very elaborate. It was one that was sending the ‘it is time’ signals. It is time for an attitude change. The times when we were not proud to say we are Ahantas, must change. And in fact, it is changing.

There, I saw the new Ahanta. The Ahanta who is ready to do whatever he can to save the image of his/her land. The Ahanta who was a die-hard Ahanta in every aspect. The Ahanta who asks “what can I do to help?” The Ahanta who will say “it doesn’t matter how small we are, how people see us negatively, how poor our land seems, etc”, but rather say “what matters is we can do to better Ahanta”.

My heart almost jumped out of my body. My colleagues who were very observant could see how extremely happy I was at what was happening on that Sunday.

At the end of the day, I felt the Ahanta, whose birth we have all waited for far too long, has finally arrived! The new Ahanta who thinks of unity, and not hatred; who thinks of how we can improve as a people; one who is optimistic, and not pessimistic of the future, is born.

An Ahanta who believes something can be done to salvage our image. One who believes Ahanta is the only place he/she has, and therefore must help in its development.

The message is clear; it is now time for you to join the vehicle of change, so that together, we can cause this change that is needed to make Ahanta a better place.

I salute the new SPIRIT of the Ahanta man! I adore the new SPIRIT!! I welcome it, and pray it stays with us FOREVER.

Ayekoo Ahanta! Ayekoo the New Spirit of the land of Twins!! Ayekoo TEGRAD!!!

Samuel Kojo Brace,

Managing Editor,

Ahantanews360.

(+233 246 2111 48/ +233 266 84 77 14)

Kojobrace99@gmail.com.