Nawuri-Gonja Relations, 1913-1994

Abstract

This thesis looks at the relationship between the Nawuri and the Gonja from 1913 to 1994. It discusses the arrival of the Nawuri, the Gonja and other immigrants into the Nawuri area and the nature of the relationship between the two groups of people through time. Contacts between the Nawuri and the Gonja date back to the seventeenth century when the two ethnic groups regarded each other as political allies. As political allies, the Nawuri supported the Gonja when eastern Gonja came under attack by Asante in 1744-45. Similarly, the Nawuri supported the Lepo Gonja (one of the three gates to the Kpembe chieftaincy) when a civil war erupted between Kanyase on the one hand and the Lepo and the Sungbung on the other. The relationship between the Nawuri and the Gonja up to 1913 was very cordial and peaceful. In 1913 Karantu Kankarantu Jawula was installed the Kanankulaiwura in the Nawuri area. Throughout his tenure of office, Kanankulaiwura Jawula pursued polices that indicated that the Nawuri were Gonja subjects and that allodial rights to the lands in the Nawuri area resided in the Gonja. It was this action of Kanankulaiwura Jawula and the subsequent amalgamation of the Nawuri area to the Gonja state that brought about a change in the relationship between the Nawuri and the Gonja. There are several feuds between the Nawuri and the Gonja relating to birthrights, allodial rights, overlordship and chieftaincy became the thrusts of their relationship. The local feuds between the Nawuri and the Gonja determined their positions in politics concerning the status of British sphere of Togoland from 1922 to 1956 as well as politics in Ghana from 1966 onwards. The above issues of dispute between the Nawuri and the Gonja, particularly the Gonja claim to allodial rights to lands in the Nawuri area and political control over the Nawuri, their recognition and suppression of Nawuri chieftaincy formed the root causes of the conflicts between the Nawuri and the Gonja both during the colonial and the post-Independence era. The wars between the Nawuri and the Gonja have technically not ended, and a state of war still exists between them since no peace treaty has been signed, The Ampiah Committee that was set up in 1991 by the erstwhile PNDC Government to investigate the causes of the Nawuri-Gonja wars submitted its findings and recommendations to the government in that year. Perhaps for political reasons, a Government White paper was not issued on the findings and recommendations of the Committee.