I woke up this morning to a controversy over a textbook allegedly branding Ewes as juju lovers. And as a result, a section of Ghanaians from the Volta Region are understandably upset.
The issue is simple: it’s not that Ewes like juju; they rather believe in karma and therefore abhor lies and cheating. As such, they’ll not do it to others. And that is what people always misconstrue as juju.
Ewes don’t talk but act. So, if you’ve not offended them, what’s your worry about being scared of their juju? Who says Ewes just get up and start casting spells on people? Leave my Anlo people alone, please!!
We claim Ewes like juju, but because of that, they don’t cheat, lie or steal. On the contrary, other tribes like the Bible and pray in tongues but commit all crimes under the sun: which one is good for nation-building?
Anytime I visited my in-laws at Tegbi in the Anlo enclave of the Volta Region, I’m taken aback by the serene atmosphere and how people even leave their doors open when going out to get something nearby.
But try this in any of other regions of Ghana, and you would return to find your house, not just looted, but, actually occupied by complete strangers brazenly claiming ownership of your property, in broad daylight.
Have anyone thought of why there are no gazumping (multiple sales of a piece of land) and its associated bloodbath through activities of landguards is completely non-existent in the whole of the Volta Region?
In Tegbi, people’s animals always sleep in the streets at night but nobody touches them. But these very animals dare do the same in other parts of the country, and they’ll end up in pepper soups in people’s kitchens.
The issue is simple: if you don’t want trouble, don’t go messing around with an Ewe because they won’t bother engaging you in a quarrel. They love keeping silent when provoked, and that’s where the danger lies.
Most of the Akan communities, particularly we the Fantes, always hide behind “gyae mu ma ɔnka”, “fa ma nyame”, “ɔnnyɛ hwee”, ” nyame botua ne kaw daakye”, etc to do more dreadful things to their fellow after all “hɛn dze yɛdze bɛma nyame”. I know what I’m saying.
A Fante family would spend fortune and send a member to study and work abroad in order to be in a good position to pull up other members of the family. But this person who claims to be a Christian, succeeds, and chooses to think about only himself and forget forget the family.
But if this person hiding his wickedness behind a farçade of Christianity, were an Ewe and the family had made him swear by the family’s powerful deity before being assisted to embark on the journey, he definitely wouldn’t dare doing anything to the contrary of his responsibilities.
Indeed, in Ghana, when someone deliberately commits a heinous crime against you and you say “I have summoned you to God”, he/she would rather see you as a complete joker. But the moment you say “I summoned you to a deity” then they sit up. What explains this?
For to me, my Ewe brothers and sisters, particularly of the Anlo enclave, should not worry at all about these.
The unjust fear their own shadows; and the wicked runneth when no one pursueth. Indeed, our Ewe brothers and sisters should rather be happy for being feared for their honesty. I love Ewes for their honesty and forthrightness in dealing with people.
Credit: Newton-Offei Justice Abeeku
Email: justnoff@yahoo.com
