Akyem, Hausa and Ewe when Trendy, Missy Hipsy Antoinne in Reality

How do we upgrade our tribal allegiance that is only activated by virtual provocation to one that consistently protect and defend where we are from?

The attachment most people have for their tribes nowadays is predominantly virtual, absent in reality.

Asante by phone, English by breath. This is us. The only time people seem to remember where they are from is when there is a stroke of their ego by a careless statement or a deliberate attack on their tribe.

They’ll litter their communities at will, but let someone say their community is dirty and see the uproar.

We are only proud of who we are when it’s convenient.

Honestly, I admit that the two did not exercise wisdom in the heat of the moment; they were too excited. Celestine, in particular, got carried away.

She didn’t say she hated Ewe names; she said she hated heavy names. Doku is an Ewe name; I doubt she’d have bothered to be called one. It is yet trivial, but it is a fact that many women consider names. They simply made public what is largely a private consideration. As I have said, for the record, they were careless.

The uproar, I won’t condemn; it’s normal. That’s us at our hypocritical best when it comes to tribal issues.

Suddenly, Efya Missy is proud to be an Ewe; eiii Ewenam, since when?

I have seen several people say, “I’ll never marry a man from my tribe.” In fact, I can speak boldly. Until recently, when Ewe and Northern men started enjoying so much positive reviews about their indoor shenanigans, it was common to hear Ewes and Northerners say, “As for me, I don’t like Ewe men, I don’t like Hausa men.”

You see, we have despised what’s us for so long across the board. We prefer English names to our local names; we rate English speakers higher than those who can only speak our local languages.

The only time we realize that we come from somewhere is when people goof.

In our daily lives, we have zero respect for where we are from; we have zero respect for our tribes. We get riled when it’s popular.

The thing koraa, comparatively, Ewe names are not that hard. Go to Upper East and Upper West and see names with four consonants together and a vowel in between. The beautiful party, the harder the name, the pleasant the meaning. Somehow, most simple names are meaningless. Like my own name: Andoh.

Sometimes let’s go easy kakra when people goof; one slip doesn’t erode the many good things a person has done.

All of a sudden, she is the dumbest person there is, she hates her tribe.

You want to tell me that you love your tribe than Celestine Donkor who could sing so well in Twi and yet decided to sell the Ewe language despite the obvious limitation in terms of showbiz success?

She made a mistake, it’s okay, but let’s go easy and use that energy to rep our tribe.

Oti korkor so) Nana just finished drinking sachet water and dumbed it in the gutter near Nhyiaso.

Ask of his name and he is John Bull, eii Kweku Boasiako, afei onti Twi.

All he is waiting for is for someone to say the Golden Stool is made of clay, then the full Akyem in him will be triggered, ready to kill for it.

Let’s channel this energy into the tangible things that matter.

Don’t only come out of the snow in the heat of another person’s error.

By Kofi Kyei