Oral History of the Ga People

           

Ga King of Accra Taki II and servants, c. 1891. kwekudee-trip
downmemorylane.blogspot.com/2013/01/ga-people-ghanas-
tribe-that-has.htmi.

The Ga people migrated south from the Niger River valley, settling in what is today southern Ghana. The Ga established six autonomous towns in this region, the most important of which was Accra, later to become capital of Ghana. (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica n.d., para. 1). Ga identity is inherited through patrilineal descent, and there exists a definite distinction between the roles of men and women among the Ga people; these facts play a large role in determining the interpretation and significance of the story of Naa Dobe Akabi, who is often remembered as a wicked woman-king.

            According to Ga oral tradition, the Ga king Mampong Okai, seeking to reestablish close relations which had previously existed between the Ga and the Obutu peoples, took as his queen the beautiful Akabi, a princess of the Obutu. Odamtten posits the marriage of King Okai to Akabi “may have been the first clear articulation of the Ga ethnic identity policy of Ablekuma aba kumawo (literally, may strangers come and join with us), which extended Ga identity to immigrants living among the Ga people” (Odamtten 2015, 66). This concept of inviting outsiders into Ga society is central to interpreting the story of Akabi, as would be demonstrated by later events.

            The oral history records that King Okai was murdered when Okai and Akabi’s son, Okaikoi, was only a few years old. Akabi’s strong maternal instincts aided her in overcoming the claims of several older sons–whose mothers were Ga and who therefore were considered “pure” Ga–and she became the young prince’s regent. Akabi “took possession of the King’s property and usurped the government” (Odamtten 2015, 68). This placed her in conflict with the traditional, conservative Ga male elders. Akabi’s conflict with the elders resulted in some elderly men being put to death; while the details of these executions are clouded, that elderly men were put to death is not disputed. (Odamtten 2015, 71). Akabi is also said to have commanded the Ga to dig wells with their bare hands; to have ordered the live capture of a lion, resulting in several deaths; and to have insisted the roof of her palace be roofed with clay rather than grass, entailing a great deal more labor (Odamtten 2015, 71-72). Perhaps most telling in the perception of her critics, Akabi symbolically solidified her position as king by acquiring the royal regalia, “in which case Akabi can be said to have acquired masculine power through her possession of the regalia needed for the consecration of the next king” (Odamtten 2015, 76). Furthermore, Akabi’s critics believed that as she was Obutu, she was not eligible to rule the Ga. Akabi’s rule ended when was murdered by being buried alive in one of the wells she had ordered dug.

Ga women in traditional shrine worship attire. kwekudee-trip
downmemorylane.blogspot.com/2013/01/ga-people-ghanas-
tribe-that-has.html.

            The story of Akabi is important to Ga culture, and, by extension, Ghanian history, for several reasons. First, the story records what may be the earliest example of the Ga practice of inviting members of foreign peoples to become members of the Ga. Second, the story of Akabi attained political significance in 2007 when Nii Tackie Tawiah III claimed descent from Akabi to legitimize his claim to the Ga throne when faced by several opposing claimants to the throne (Odamtten 2015, 69). Finally, and perhaps most significantly, as Odamtten asserts, “Akabi’s story could serve to educate the Ga and Ghanaian public—not only about Ga identity but also about the historical evolution of women’s roles and the gendered dimensions of Ga traditions—as they determine their future as an ethnic group in modern Ghana” (Odamtten 2015, 79).

Bibliography

Odamtten, Harry N.K. "Dodi Akabi: A Reexamination of the Oral and Textual Narrative of a "Wicked Female King." Journal of Women's History 27, no. 3 (Fall 2015): 61-85. doi 10.1353/jowh.2015.0034 (accessed September 7, 2016).

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. The Ga People. n.d. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ga (accessed September 7, 2013).