A 99-year-old man said to be the personal messenger of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, has given a new account of how the name “Ghana” came into being.
According to Mr. Kobina Taylor, the initials of a number of ethnic groups were pieced together and arranged to achieve the name of the Republic that transited from Gold Coast to Ghana in 1957.
He explained how the name was assembled by his then-boss, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who served first as Prime Minister and later as President of independent Ghana until his overthrow in February 1966.
“Guans, Hausa, Akan, Nzema/northern region, Accra/Alata; it is the initials of these words that were used to constitute the name ‘Ghana.’ This is me Kofi Kyere, saying so.
In seeking to explain the Accra or Alata part of the nomenclature, he continued:
“The Ga people are from Nigeria, that is where they originated from. Their leader who brought them was called Ayi Bonte, along with Togbe Tsili and Tulasi, Panoe; they are the origins of the people referred to as Accra or Alata,” he told Captain Smart on the October 11 edition of the Onua Maayke show.
Nkrumah’s messenger who is currently living in penury and suffering from medical complications told Captain Smart about how influential he had been in the past in securing deals that have benefitted Ghana over the decades.
TWI NEWS
About the name Ghana
According to the history page on GhanaWeb, present-day Ghana was named after Medieval Ghana (4th - 13th Century):
“The Republic of Ghana is named after the medieval Ghana Empire of West Africa. The actual name of the Empire was Wagadugu. Ghana was the title of the kings who ruled the kingdom.
“It was controlled by Sundiata in 1240 AD, and absorbed into the larger Mali Empire. (Mali Empire reached its peak of success under Mansa Musa around 1307.)”
Then Gold Coast, thus, went back for a name that already existed in history. Another variant of what words were put together to get the name Ghana is “God – Has – Appointed – Nkrumah – Already,” but no historical account has proven this to be true.
You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV:
SARA/PEN
