[ 2013-08-14 ]

No more Heroes Anymore 1: What’s in a name?
AWAM is an acronym that everyone of my generation
will be very familiar with. Over the years, it has
metamorphosed into “KUKUULU”, bastardized from
COLLUSION and all describing the well worn art of
“Cartelism” and manipulating the terms of
trade to the disadvantage of the customers and in
favour of the traders. We know what awam is but
very few of us know its origins and place in our
nations’ history and life.

The ASSOCIATION OF WEST AFRICAN MERCHANTS (AWAM)
was the grouping of trading companies who sold
manufactured European goods in the Gold Coast.
AWAM members, made up of the still familiar names
of UAC (the United African Company); UTC (Union
Trading Company); "Oliphant"(G. B. Olivant, and a
host of Lebanese and Syrian retailers, fixed and
maintained uniform prices for all the goods they
sold, whether it was wax print, Exeter corned
beef, Peak Milk, Geisha Mackerel or the harmless
“wape” So whichever shop one went to “the
difference was the same”.

The antics of AWAM led to the boycott of their
shops by Mr. Theodore Taylor, best known as Nii
Kwabena Bonney, Osu Alata Mantse; which boycott
coincided with a peaceful march to OSU Castle by
returning soldiers from the 2nd World War who
demanded that they should be paid the same
pensions as their British counterparts. Three of
the protesters, namely Sergeant Adjetey, Lance
Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey-Lamptey were
shot dead on the 28th February 1948.

The news of the slaughter and the confusion after
the events led the youth to loot the AWAM shops on
a massive scale. These were the events that led to
a declaration of martial law, the jailing of the
Big Six and the setting up of the Watson
Commission that delivered a constitution for our
independence. In recognition of the having paid
the ultimate price to kick start our fight for
independence, the road to the seat of Government
was renamed the 28 FEBRUARY ROAD and the heroics
of the three men were recognised in the revised
words of our national anthem, viz. “Red for the
blood of the heroes in the fight.”

THE 28TH FEBRUARY ROAD IS NOW CALLED THE PROF.
JOHN FIIFI ATTA MILLS HIGHSTREET. In one swoop, we
have wiped out the memory and acknowledgement of
those who literally gave up their lives so we
could become a free nation. We have rubbished and
made their pivotal contribution to our boast as
Black Africa’s first independent country by
replacing them with John Attach Mills, another who
served his nation well, and also died in action,
speaking metaphorically...

The FIIFI MILLS that I got to know through
Ato-Ahwoi is protesting in his grave at what he
will consider to be an utmost abomination and a
slur on this nation’s foundation heroes for
someone to give their pride of place to him. His
sense of justice, His humility, His deep
understanding of the history of our country, His
commitment to the Nkrumaist idealism and above all
His sense of decency, will lead to him REJECT THIS
FALSE ADULATION that places him on a higher
pedestal than Adjetey, Attipoe and
Odartey-Lamptey.

It is in the same vein I abhor the treatment meted
out to Ohene DJAN, Chairman of the COS (CENTRAL
ORGANISATION O SPORTS), under whose reign SPORTS
meant more than just FOOTBALL (now reduced to the
worship of the EPL, LA LIGA, SERIE A & THE
BUNDESLIGA).

Under Ohene Djan, Ghana Sports blossomed and
boomed. The modern day football addicts will
applaud his incomparable record of winning three
African Cups for Ghana; a feat only added to by
the C. K. Gyamfi-led team of 1982 Incidentally
C.K. had captained one of the teams that won under
Ohene Djan.
Beyond football. Ohene Djan\s masterful
stewardship led to Ghana wining a Bronze medal at
boxing at the 1960(??) Olympic Games through the
stylish Eddie Blay. He brought the legendary
Cassis us Clay turned Mohammed Ali to Ghana in the
immediate aftermath of the stunning defeat of
Sonny Liston. There were World BIG Championship
fights involving REAL CAHMPIONS like Sugar RAMOS
who pumped our Floyd ROBERSTON into a pub.
Reducing our hero to a feeble “ME NYAA”, when
he could take no more. The battles between JOE
TETTEH (Accra’s hero) and JOMO JACKSON
(Kumasi’s Golden Boy) were more exciting and
fearsome than the RAMBO series.

In athletics, Ghana came second in the 4 * 110
yards relay at the 1962 Olympics in Australia, and
went on to smash the Commonwealth record in the
1966 Games in Kingston, Jamaica. ( 45 years b4
BOLT), both led by the incomparable and still
living Mike Ahey, who also won Gold in the long
jump. His record jump stood for over 40 years
until Ignatius Ghanasah broke it and then defected
for lack of love and care on our part. Stanley
Allotey, Okantey, Ohene Frimpong and my very own
brother, Sandy Osei Agyeman, now making our women
look so beautiful with his Most Valuable Products,
were athletes of international standing inspired
by the Ohene Djan stewardship. Ohene Djan promoted
the annual INTER-CO Athletics Meeting to become
the talking point.

Ironically, Hockey, the game whose recent
machinations has inspired this piece and nurtured
and developed Fiifi Attach Mills as a player of
international standing, was one of the sports in
which Ghana came to excel and achieved high
standards. Ohene Djan did not fear to put a woman
in charge of the development of our national
hockey game and the lady equalled if not surpassed
her achievement as the designer of our national
flag.

My only beef with Ohene Djan was that he decimated
the Kotoka team by poaching Baba Yara into the
model club, Real Republicans, formed to provide
the nucleus of Black Stars, which of course
accounted for Ghana winning two Africa Cup of
nations' tournaments. Yes I was peeved at the time
and resented the COS Chair but, even though Kotoko
lost the grudge march of 28th July 1963 to the
"Real Repu" an event that filled Kumasi’s
gutters with fufu and triggered a premature
delivery by my grand aunt of the baby girl she had
craved for after five boys I forgave Ohene Djan
after Ghana won the Africa Cup.

And then after all these years what do I see. Some
bearded man who is nearly of my generation and
therefore should be familiar with the foregoing
Anansesem, gets to become political boss of our
nations’ capital , and presto he starts to
unravel and belittle those whose toil, sweat,
imagination and dedication, built this dear nation
of ours. Suddenly, being ethnocentric had become a
more important priority that recognizing and
celebrating those whose achievements we still bask
in even as our glory days are long past and we are
clutching at faded and jaded memories of our once
great nation.

Again, Prof. John Attah-Mills is turning and
sweating in his grave to observe that the women
who inspired him to become one of Ghana’s best
hockey players has suddenly had insult heaped upon
her in the name of honouring him Attah- Mills. The
worst part of this whole sod saga is my brothers,
Bossou and Chaucer’s mom, add Theodosia II to
the fray, has been insulted and humiliated when
she is still alive and well and should be basking
in the adulation of fellow Ghanaians for the
exemplary service to Mother Ghana.

Mr. President, Great job you did in quickly
reversing the abominable act of the TRIBALISTIC
MAYOR OF GHANA’S CAPITAL CITY. But John as you
permit me to call you (thanks to Alice), your good
deeds are not complete yet in this matter. On the
face of the arguments I have adduced in this
piece, I think it is right, proper and necessary
for you to restore the 28TH FEBRUARY ROAD and THE
OHENE DJAN SPORTS STADIUM names immediately.

Mr. PRESIDEN, ( now I want to add the full
gravitas) You must do this to reflect the theme of
one of the classic sermons preached at the
departing of our kith and kin from this world, to
wit, “IT IS NOT HOW YOU START, BUT HOW YOU
FINISH”. In the matter of recognizing those who
have built our nation, You have started to right
the wrongs of the urbane yet deeply ethnocentric
Mayor of our Capital city. Now is the time to
complete and reverse the blot on our collective
conscience.

As for FIIFI, we will find very suitable things to
name after him in recognition of his humble and
devoted service, especially in his dogged
insistence that peaceful coexistence is the
bedrock for building a prosperous and united
nation, able to enjoy the fruits of the sacrifices
made by our founding heroes.

As for my dear Mayor, if you really believe that
this dear capital city is only for your people,
then I shall reactivate my campaign to move
Ghana’s capital to Kintampo, the geographical
centre of our country. If the Nigerians did it
with Abuja, don’t see why we cannot do it even
better.

The title is derived from one of the seminal hits
of the 1970s & 80s PUNK ROCK revolution. It was
the most popular hit of a group called THE
STRANGLERS. For today’s generation you can catch
in on Youtube and enjoy the energy and the
cynicism of instant sycophancy.

Source - Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby

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