Mamprusi(Mamprugu Kingdom) Highlights

The earliest known states in what is now Ghana were the Mamprusi and Dagomba kingdoms in the north which flourished in the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. The Mamprusi are part of the Na Gweba people originally from what is now Togo. Of the four people groups descended from Na Gweba, the Mamprusi are the leaders. The Dagomba, Nanumba, and even the Mossi recognize them as the final authority among themselves.

Location

Most Mamprusi live in their homeland, Mamprugu, an area of northeast Ghana between the Dagbani in the south and Frafra in the north, . There are also small communities of Mamprusi in towns in southern Ghana.

Topography

Located on the Gulf of Guinea just five degrees north of the equator, Ghana is surrounded by Burkina Faso, Togo, and Côte d'Ivoire. Lake Volta, the largest man-made lake in the world (in area), is in Ghana.

History

In the eighteenth century, the Mamprusi people organized forces to protect the trade in slaves and goods with mercenaries from the Ivory Coast (now Côte d'Ivoire) . The Frafra, Nabdem, Talensi, and Kusasi are subject to the Mamprusi .

Culture

Two-thirds of marriages are polygamous. Children are given both Mamprusi and Muslim names, and are circumcised. When a person dies, Mamprusis dig a temporary grave near the compound. At the next dry season they hold a special funeral, with food, dancing, and the determination of the cause of death, to honor the person. At this time the dead person’s spirit is finally released.

Education: There are secondary middle schools in the main towns and a secondary school in Nalerigu,Bawku and many villages have primary schools. Many Mamprusi children don't get the opportunity to attend school because their parents need them to help with herding the animals and with the chores at home. The literacy rate among the Mamprusi is less than 15%.

Religion

Eighty-two percent of Mamprusis practice traditional religion. Naa-wuni is the supreme god, whose name is used by Muslims. In the traditional religion he is not worshiped or referred to except in exclamations. Ancestors are believed to help in a crisis through various diviners who live in each village. The Mamprusi communicate with their ancestors through sacrifices and offerings. Fourteen percent of Mamprusis are Muslims, and four percent are Christians. Great social pressure is put on any who want to change.

source: A.R.K Bawku

Bawku In Perspective

It is rather unfortunate that the Mr John Akparibo Ndebugri, (PNC-Zebilla), who described himself as official spokesman for the Kusasis, said it appeared armed robbers were taking advantage of the situation in Bawku to harass the people. The kusasis are arm robbers and have planned to destabilize the peace Bawku was going to enjoy after the long ranging conflict. The MP Mahama Ayariga knows well he will not secure the seat to parliament come election 2008,by so doing edges his kusasi unemployed youth to intensify attacks on the mamprusi.

John Akparibo Ndebugri is not a kusasi man, he is lost and confuse about his tribe and the kusasi naba Abugrago in history is not a kusasi decent.
The kusasis are ignorant of the real issues connected to the Bawku affair and deliberately wants to throw dust in the eyes of the concern public.

Firstly, it is complete nonsense to imagine that Mamprusis are in the minority in the Bawku area. Bawku is part of Great Mamprugu Kingdom, and so how can any kusasi person in his/her rightful mind imagine that Mamprusis are in the minority. Even if we take the Bawku area in isolation, Mamprusis are not in the minority. If we really want to go by the majority argument, then Bisas are supposed to rule Bawku and not Kusasis. And so the Kusasis should stop this nonsense about being in the majority. I know for sure that Bawku, Binduri, Kuka Zulli, Worikambo, Gumbo all in the Bawku area are predominantly Mamprusis. And so the kusasis should stop throwing dust to the public that Mamprusis are only in Bawku town. Secondly, Mamprusis NEVER robbed Kusasis of the Bawku skin. How can anyone in their right senses make such a claim? It is the same Kusasis which claim that they (Kusasis) requested the Nayiri to provide them with protection against slave raiders during the slave trade years. According to Kusasis, this was how Mamprusis came to be in Bawku. One unanswered question: How could Kusasis have made such a request if the Bawku area was not part of the Nayiri’s territory? Can any Kusasi site any historical example of one tribe requesting protection from another tribe that did not have jurisdiction over the land on which both tribes lived? If the Kusasis were so weak and did not even have what it took to ward off slave raiders, how could they have been landowners in the first place during those turbulent years or wars and take overs? It seems the Kusasis don’t even know their own history well. A euphoria arising from the little political power they have tasted in recent years. A euphoria defined by an erroneous interpretation of freedom and justice. Mamprusis NEVER robbed Kusasis of the Bawku skin. Before Mamprusis started ruling Bawku around the 17th Century, NO Kusasis had ever ruled Bawku.

In fact, the first ever Kusasi to ‘rule’ Bawku was Abugarago Azoka I he was driven away from Pusiga were he first seek shelter, for the offense of going to bed with his best friends wife,this alone makes you know that the kusasis are not poeple to be trusted.
In what way did Mamprusis rob Kusasis of the Bawku skin? The kusasis base their facts on the 1958 Supreme Court declaration which I think they should go back and access them selves well before coming out clearly. Which people were chiefs before 1958? or did the history of Bawku start in 1958? If any government is at the root of the Bawku problem, it is the Nkrumah's government. It is in the common knowledge what President Nkrumah did to people and tribes that were opposing his regime. Nkrumah started the Bawku conflict by disskinning Mamprusis because they were opposed to him and enskinning Kusasis who voted for him. And this is the genesis of the politicization of the Bawku problem.

Source: A.R.K Bawku

The Nayiri, Naa Bohugu Abdulai Mahami Sheriga, King of Mamprugu Cautions KUSASIS

The Nayiri, Naa Bohugu Abdulai Mahami Sheriga, King of Mamprugu, has urged politicians and political commentators to refrain from making irresponsible pronouncements about the situation in Bawku to score political points. He urged them to "rise above parochial interest and contribute meaningfully to restore calm and lasting peace to help heal the pain the people of Bawku have already endured".

Naa Sheriga, who was addressing a press conference on the Bawku conflict at his palace in Nalerigu on Sunday, said he wanted to correct the erroneous impression being created by "some unscrupulous and ignorant people" that he had no traditional jurisdiction over the Bawku chieftaincy. "I wish to state with special emphasis that my Kingdom remains the oldest in Ghana and started in Pusiga-Bawku and some parts of the Upper East Region such as Nangode, Sakote, Tongo, Zuarungu and Bongo," he said.

The Nayiri said his Kingdom traditionally enskinned chiefs of Binduri, Teishi, Warikambo and Tanka. "Any person or group of people who attempt to rewrite the history of this tradition by whatever means must put a stop to it immediately or else face the wrath of the gods." "Let me remind them that traditional structures remain independent of partisan politics and traditional boundaries are not affected by political demarcation and all must appreciate this fact and be circumspect in their pronouncements", the King said.

Naa Sheriga expressed his sadness about the involvement of towns such as Pusiga, Garu, Zebilla, Binduri and Binaba in the Bawku conflict and the attack on the lives and properties of Mamprusis and other innocent people in the area.

"I appeal to all those involved in the perpetration of the cruel acts and those who fuel and fund the conflict to put a stop to their activities before they are consumed by their own misdeeds". He called on the youth of Mamprugu, especially those in Nalerigu, Gambaga, Langbinsi, Walewale and Bolgatanga to remain calm and not to indulge in any retaliatory attack on the lives and properties of Kusasis.

Naa Sheriga called on the government to be cautious and impartial in its intervention in the Bawku conflict in order to win the confidence and trust of all the people involved in the conflict. He said he would consult the National House of Chiefs, elders and sub chiefs in his kingdom to find a durable and lasting peace to the protracted Bawku conflict.

Naa Sheriga appealed to the Ministry of the Interior to review the long hours of the curfew imposed on the area since it had serious health implications, especially in this season of the outbreak of cerebro-spinal meningitis (CSM).

The Nayiri commended the government and all other stakeholders in peace promotion in their efforts to bring peace to Bawku. He also extended his condolences to all the bereaved families and urged the feuding factions, especially the youth, to lay down their arms and bring all attacks and hostilities to an immediate end.

Source: A.R.K Bawku

The Ghana Empire Collapsed Under The Onslaught Of Invaders From The North And West And Because Of Economic Pulls To The East And South.

In the eleventh century, shortly after Ghana reached its zenith, the city of Kumbi Saleh fell to the Berber Almoravids (1076), who swept across the desert from present-day Mauritania in an effort to control the gold trade and to purify Islam, as it was practiced in Ghana. The invaders subsequently withdrew, but the kingdom of Ghana was weakened. Later invasions by the Takrur people from the west (the Senegal valley) and others, together with secessionist movements from many rebellious sub-kingdoms which had previously paid regular tribute to the Ghanaian king, gradually made the trade routes through Ghana too dangerous. As a result, the Muslim merchants moved eastward, and with the loss of trade, the kingdom of Ghana began to crumble. In addition, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Bure goldfields were opened up to the south, also drawing traders further east. A terrible drought further compounded the suffering and accelerated the deterioration of the environment--degradation that was probably accentuated also by overgrazing. By the mid-thirteenth century, the once great empire of Ghana had disintegrated.

Source: A.R.K Bawku

The Ghana Empire Survived And Prospered Because It Was Located On Major Trade Routes.

Ghana was well placed to take advantage of trade. It was located midway between the desert, the main source of salt, and the goldfields of the upper Senegal River in the savannah woodlands in the south. Camel caravans crossing the Sahara brought goods such as copper and dried fruit, as well as salt that was mined at Taghaza in present-day northern Mali. The caravans also brought clothing and other manufactured goods, which they exchanged for kola nuts, hides, leather goods, ivory, gold, and slaves. Taxes collected on every trade item entering the kingdom were used to pay for government, a huge army which protected the kingdom's borders and trade routes, and the upkeep of the capital city and major markets. However, it was control of the gold fields in the southwest that was essential to Ghana's political control and economic prosperity. The location of these goldfields was kept strictly secret by the Soninke. By the tenth century, Ghana was an immensely rich and prosperous empire, probably controlling an area the size of Texas or Nigeria in what is now eastern Senegal, southwest Mali, and southern Mauritania. The ruler was acclaimed as the "richest king in the world because of his gold" by Arab traveler Ibn Haukal, who visited the region in about 950 A.D. Demand for gold increased in the ninth and tenth centuries for minting into coins by the Islamic states of North Africa. As the trans-Saharan trade in gold expanded, so did the state of Ghana. The trans-Sahara trade also brought Islam to the empire, initially to the rulers and townspeople.

Locally obtained iron ore was used to make tools, which made agriculture easier and more efficient, and permitted the growth of larger settled communities. Iron-tipped spearheads, lances, knives, and swords gave ancient Soninke soldiers technological superiority over their neighbors who used bone and wood. The Soninke were thus able to capture more farming and grazing land from their weaker, less-organized neighbors. The Soninke were also able to obtain horses from the Saharan nomads with whom they were in contact, which enabled them to move farther and faster.

Source: A.R.K Bawku

The Ghana Empire Began When The Soninke People Joined Forces To Resist The Raids Of Pastoral Nomads.

Nomads herding animals in the fringes of the desert, the Sahel, posed a threat to the early Soninke who lived south of the Sahara as agriculturalists. During times of drought, the nomads would raid the villages to the south in search of water and pastures for their herds. To protect themselves from these raids, the communities of African farmers joined forces, possibly to form a loose federation of states that eventually became the kingdom of Ghana.

During the third century A.D., it is probable that a Soninke chief succeeded in uniting the Soninke people (the northernmost Mande peoples) and possibly founded the city of Kumbi Saleh (in present-day western Mali). Kumbi Saleh was an oasis along an important north-south trade route. This chief belonged to the royal clan of Ouagadou, and the Soninke first named their kingdom after this royal family. He was known as the Kaya maghan, "king of the gold," and as Ghana, or "war chief." Over time, the land of the Ouagadou (Wagadu) became known (by the Arabs) as Ghana; they also associated it with gold. Rulers of the state kept extending their borders in order to gain control of the trade routes by conquering neighboring territories. By the fifth century, the Soninke kingdom of Ghana had been established. This kingdom lasted about six centuries before being conquered by new forces from the east.

Source:A.R.K Bawku

Written Constitution

During the colonial period the traditional, unwritten constitutions gave way to written ones. From 1930 the British government wanted to introduce indirect rule into Northern Ghana so as to preserve the North from what the British regarded as ‘disruptive’ outside influences and foster traditional values and institutions. According to its supporters, indirect rule would permit the acquisition of skills necessary for traditional rulers to exercise degrees of political authority while remaining firmly rooted in traditional.

Source: A.R.K Bawku

FIRST CHIEFS TO BE RECOGNIZED IN GHANA

THE MAMPRUGU KINGDOM WERE THE FIRST TO HAVE AN ORGANIZED FORM OF RULE IN GHANA, BY SO DOING CHIEFS AND ELDERS WERE BEING SERVED BY THEIR SUBJECTS. THE SLAVE MASTERS AT THE TIME COMMENDED THEM FOR THEIR FORM OF RULE.

Source : A.R.K Bawku