14:00 - 15:30
Room: Aston Webb – Senate Chamber
Stream: Political Legitimacy and 'Customary' Rule in Local African Contexts
Chair/s:
Reuben Loffman
Ethnicity and the National Question: Seeing Raufu through Ashanti Ethno-Nationalism and State-Chieftaincy Relations in Ghana.
Kwaku Abrefa Busia
University of Oxford, Oxford

The diverse characteristics of multi-ethnic African countries and the challenges of state integration have usually foregrounded “the national question”, citizenship rights and political legitimacy concerning democratization. While majority of ethnonationalist groups reflect the viewpoint of being underserved by current political structures, Ashanti nationalism signify a different political leadership and ideology that sees itself as distinct from mainstream Afro-pean democracy in local contexts yet harmonizes with the Ghanaian state on governance and broader development goals. Until independence, the then Gold Coast colony (now Ghana) comprised the Gold Coast, made up of the coastal belt, the Ashanti territory and the Northern Protectorate. The Ashanti, providing the highest form of resistance to the British colonial rule and the subsequent postcolonial governments have always regarded themselves as a nation within a nation-Ghana. For many Ashantis, they belong first to a clan, secondly being Ashanti and lastly as Ghanaians (Allman, 1993; Berry, 2001). With a strong chieftaincy institution that dates to the formation of the Asante Confederacy in 1701, chieftaincy remains resolute in the Ashanti region than other parts of Ghana. Ghana’s first president, Nkrumah sought to weaken the foothold of Ashanti chieftaincy by creating administrative boundaries that by-passed traditional allegiance towards the Ashanti king. This coincided with the creation of the Brong-Ahafo region out of the Ashanti region. In 2016, the Kumasi Traditional Council in an unprecedented turnout of events moved for the removal of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (equivalent of a mayor in the UK). The CEO of the KMA is a central government appointment by the president of Ghana, and this decision by the traditional leaders led to the resignation of the office holder for which the presidency had to comply. In line with this, I argue that contrary to dominant narratives of chieftaincy as subservient to the Weberian state in modern African democracies, the Ashanti case demonstrates that traditional institutions sometimes command enormous authority over the state. Additionally, it emphasizes that within the Ashanti region, chieftaincy flaws the supremacy of the state via revoking central government decisions especailly when it does not meet popular expectations.


Reference:
Tu-A35 Political Legitimacy and Local African Contexts 2-P-003
Presenter/s:
Kwaku Abrefa Busia
Presentation type:
Panel
Room:
Aston Webb – Senate Chamber
Chair/s:
Reuben Loffman
Date:
Tuesday, 11 September
Time:
14:30 - 14:45
Session times:
14:00 - 15:30