A shared vow to awaken the people of Ashaiman to their Greatness with the Ghana military’s Ashaiman visit revolution.
The death of a young military personnel at Ashaiman, a suburb in Accra gave rise to the Ghana military to visit Ashaiman to search for the murders of the young military personnel, and 184 residents from Ashaiman were arrested.
The death of the young military personnel gave rise to a series of questions, doubts and fear in numerous Ashaiman residences, questioning and demanding improved security and more transparent governance.
The case exemplifies why so many in Ashaiman have lost confidence in the authorities. Perhaps because of the enormous complexity of security in Ashaiman, few concrete solutions to the underlying problems have gained any traction.
We can look back now and imagine how weak helpless Ashaiman have become from the beginning stages of its history.
Located 5.6931° N, 0.0327° W, Ashaiman is a town about 30 km to the North-East-East of Accra, the capital of Ghana.
Ashaiman’s latitude is 5.692858, and the longitude is -0.029869; with the GPS coordinates of 5° 41′ 34.2888” N and 0° 1′ 47.5284” W. Covering a total area of 45 sq. km; It is bound to the North and East by Kpone-Katamanso District and, on the South and West by the Tema Metropolis.
The name Ashaiman is a compound name formed from two Ga words; “Ashai” being the name of the founder of the town Nii Ashai, and “Mang” being the Ga word for a Town, City or Nation. The name of the town therefore simply means Ashai’s Town.
History
Ashaiman was founded by Nii Ashai after he had moved from Tema. In the 17th Century, Nii Atanya, a fisherman from Tema came to farm in the area whenever the fishing season was over. He made a village for himself there and named the area “Nmpo-Asei village” (now commonly known as Official-Town).
Later, he brought his children namely Naa Merly, Nii Tetteh, Naa Morkor, Naa Maakai, Naa Maatso and Nae Mcafee. Nii Ashai was a royal from the Naa Amorkortse Royal family of Tema, who spent most of his lifetime in Koforidua and got married there.
He was also a friend of Nii Atanya. One day, Nii Atanya met his friend Nii Ashai at Tema fishing shore mending net, and brought him to the village to learn about his new settlement. Nii Ashai requested to live with him for a season to farm a portion of land. After a period of time, Nii Ashai became interested in farming after a good harvest and therefore requested to settle with him in the Nmpo-Asei Village. He came along with Nii Doku, his only son.
Nii Oko Olaaye who hailed from Tema came to request for a place from his in-law, Nii Atanya to relocate his family from Zeenu because of the killing and disappearance of the youth in the village and his in-law asked him to settle in the forest part of the village with his family.
He crossed the stream to the forest and found a peaceful area which was good for settlement and therefore named the area Moni-Obaanye village (now commonly known as Ashaiman New-Town). He brought his children whose names are Nii Mantey, Nii Mensah, Naa Adjeley and Nii Anum.
Nii Larbifio hailed from the Odaitse Royal family of Tema and came to settle at Zeenu with his brothers. He married Naa Morkor Atanya and was blessed with the following children: Naa Adjeley, Nii Adjetey, Naa Tsotsoo and Naa Kailebi (who is the only person alive at Zeenu).
Nii Larbifio had misunderstandings with his wife and due to that the marriage broke up. Naa Morkor Atanya brought the children to her brother Nii Tetteh Atanya who was by then popularly known and called “Amuitse ” or “Ataa Nii” at Ashaiman.
When old age caught up with Nii Atanya and Nii Ashai, Nii Ashai requested that they should move to the road-side so that people who pass by might see their existence in the village but Nii Atanya resisted, maintaining his village and asked him to move to the road-side so that he will visit him on regular basis. Nii Ashai moved with his children to the road-side and made a village and named the area Ashai Village (now commonly known as the areas of Valco-Flat, Asensu and Free-Town). This road is a footpath that leads to various villages like Zeenu, Kuberkro, Adigon (Kportorkportor), Saasabi, Koforidua and Akuapem ranges.
Traders who used the footpath rest at Ashai Village for water or sleep when the night catches up with them and continue their journey the following day.
During the economic expansion of towns and villages because of the preparation towards independence in the 19th century, most traders made their rest stop very popular and Ashai Village was popular, too, as traders always talk about the hospitality they enjoy at Ashai Village. Some even called it Ashai Man’s Village hence, the name ASHAIMAN was formed from Ashai Man’s village and became popular to date, and this is how the Ashaiman Divisional Area was founded.
From the viewpoint of Ashaiman’s natural history, we cannot deny the fact that the early people or the founder of Ashaiman himself have emotions, knowledge, and awareness to some degree that peace and prosperity is regarded and it was that which led him to develop Ashaiman.
According to AssumptaGH research, Ashaiman remains among the most dangerous towns in the capital of Accra as it also stands as the capital of Ashaiman Municipal District, a district in Greater Accra Region.
But unfortunately, this part of town continues to report worrying stories of crime, especially street robberies and the snatching of private vehicles.
Stonebwoy:
This statistic is hardly a surprise considering that 9 percent of the Ashaiman population fell victim to assaults, and the town’s confidence rate was the lowest amongst other Accra towns.
As you pointed out above, the history of Ashaiman, when Nii Ashai was wandering and he discovered the advantages of farming and decided to settle in that land and place, because a close relationship of his love and attachment for the land was born and gradually formed the basis of a culture, customs, laws, dress, architectural style, social standards, and traditions of Ashaiman.
Your understanding of Ashaiman’s “half-civilised culture” is very accurate. People of Ashaiman lack good schools, daycares, universities, vocational training colleges, good roads, hospitals, jobs and absence of good transportation facilities.
The people of Ashaiman can’t understand why part of Ghana, like the east legon is well mobile enough to be classified as civilised, with to good good roads, hospitals, universities, schools, daycares, etc.
Indeed, addressing Ashaiman’s safety problem is particularly difficult for several reasons, including disparate local and national security challenges, and inequality disparity. Lack of all of these together formed the collusion of criminal organisations.
I wonder why criminal lawless people are found in Ashaiman.
My conclusion is that in the case of the history of Ashaiman with the richness of vegetation and the difficulty with which basic necessity needs to be met do encourage some young people of Ashaiman to be inactive and can’t exert great effort. There is no motivation for them to better themselves. As a result, we have to stop making enemies and have a serious conversation about how development can come to Ashaiman.
Making enemies is not the intent of the founder of Ashaiman. The murder of the military personnel is a wake up call to bring development to Ashaiman.
In concluding our dialogue today, I would like to suggest that we talk about “Learning To Live and the Human potential in our next News letter. Thank you my friend
Thank My Friend.
