Ever heard of the ‘kankan nyame’? Well, while there remain many interpretations of what it was or not, a man who lived in the very period that the term became very prominent, Kojo Bonsu, has shared details of what exactly it was.
Speaking in an interview on Channel One TV, Kojo Bonsu (real name Michael Kwadwo Mensah Bonsu), a former Mayor of Kumasi, explained the circumstances that led him to live at the Flagstaff House under Kwame Nkrumah.
With his sister married to Nkrumah’s chief protocol officer at the time, he was privileged to live at the seat of government, he explained.
“My senior sister, may she rest in peace – she’s passed on, when I was about 3 years old, by then, she hadn’t given birth and she had married the chief protocol officer of Dr Kwame Nkrumah. So, my sister decided to take me on as a son. So, I became, in a way, a son to my sister and I came to live with her at the Flagstaff House and my brother-in-law, Ambassador Kofi Darko, who was the direct protocol officer to Kwame Nkrumah,” he said.
Kojo Bonsu, in further describing his time at the Flagstaff House (now Jubilee House), reflected on the famous ‘kankan nyame’ tales in Ghanaian history.
He explained how the house he lived in with his sister and her husband became the very spot for this ‘kankan nyame.’
But exactly what was it? He explained;
“We lived at the Flagstaff House In fact, in history, if you heard of Bungalow Number 4, that is where they put the ‘kankan nyame’; that is the house we lived in… when Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown, there was this propaganda that went around that he had brought some juju from Guinea and it was called ‘kankan nyame.’ That thing was done at that house – Bungalow Number 4.
“The present-day Flagstaff House, when you go there, you know that main gate, opposite, used to be the Radio Ghana and that house was directly opposite and it was a direct link to the Flagstaff House,” he added.
The former flagbearer aspirant of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) also narrated stories around how he lived through the years of the 1966 coup that toppled the government of Kwame Nkrumah, as well as some details surrounding his relationship with the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
Additional details from africa-research.com give further information on the ‘kankan nyame’ and its real origin. The following details are from the website:
Nkrumah was introduced to a deity in a town called KANKAN in Guinea.
Kankan is the largest town among the Mande speakers of Guinea.
Nkrumah brought the Kankan goddess to Ghana in 1953 and made a secret shrine for her within the Flagstaff House.
According to one Prophet Baidoo, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah spiritually enslaved the country in bondage when he used a pregnant woman’s blood to make a god that he called Kankan Nyame.
“After Independence, whoever has sat on the throne of the presidency has never had it easy ruling the country.
At the end, Ghanaians lie in difficulties.”
Describing the Kankan Nyame, the prophet said:
“Dr. Nkrumah made a half-dead pregnant woman kneel, and tied seven white handkerchiefs around her neck and hands.
There were some bowls around the pregnant woman containing human blood and human skulls placed between the bowls.”
According to him, Nkrumah kept this god at the Flagstaff House and at the castle.
“Some of the human blood was also sent to the Independence Square. The statue at the Independence Square was built with human blood,” he reiterated.
He described the star in a hand with the inscription Gye Nyame on the country’s bank notes as juju and could be attributed to the fallen value of the Cedi.
The Man of God further said bloodshed would continue as it happened at the stadium disaster if Ghanaians continue to accept blood as stated in the national song, Yen ara asase ni.
“Some of the juju medicine was also kept in the Peduase Lodge (Nkrumah’s special residence) and at the Osu cemetery.
When invited, I will be able to show and prove where it was buried at the Osu cemetery,” he added.
Also, according to Dr. Obed Asamoah of the NDC (one of the founding fathers of the NDC party), Nkrumah used to visit the female deity.
The rumour of Kankan Nyame shot up after the overthrow of Dr Nkrumah in 1966.
