Where are our ahemma? The gradual erosion of the dual-sex political leadership among the Akan-speaking Breman Asikuma people of Ghana

Abstract

In all known human societies, there are mechanisms for ensuring the continued existence of order and stability and also the protection of societies’ boundaries from external attacks. In Africa, chieftaincy remained the swivel of many cultures across the continent though the history of that institution differs in the various regions. While certain offices within the traditional political system of Africa are appointive, the usual mode of acquiring an office is through descent. Thus, in patrilineal or matrilineal descent systems, individuals acquire offices through lines that are reckoned paternally or maternally respectively. Indigenous political offices in matrilineal societies, in Ghana, are by tradition occupied by both males and females concurrently. Societies that have institutionalized this dual-sex system of rulership do so in order to ensure that the society benefits from the political division of labour and the role of complementation that guarantee the proper functioning of the political realm. Interestingly, within the post-colonial era, while more is heard of whether or not male traditional political offices are occupied, the same cannot be said of female offices. This article, which draws on a qualitative analysis of historical and ethnographical data, is a historical exploration and ethnographical intellectualization of the gradual extinction of the female mouthpiece at the highest order of the traditional political office, within the social milieu of the Breman Asikuma traditional society, which belongs to the Akan ethnic in Ghana