ATWERE, KWABENA
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Kwabena Atwere (c. 1840-June 1920) achieved distinction as Oseawuohene (chief) of the state of Wankyi, located in what is now southern Ghana, about 8 mi (13 km) northeast of the town of Oda. He reigned from 1884-88, and from 1894-1920, and was an accomplished soldier, cloth-weaver, and pioneer rubber farmer.
Born at Obogu, about 40 mi (64 km) southeast of Kumase, in the state of Asante-Akyem, where his family lived in exile, Kwabena Atwere grew up into an able and ambitious man. He fought on the side of Asante during the Sagrenti War of 1874, and was a member of the Obogu force that attacked a contingent of the British forces led by Captain J. H. Glover while on its way to Kumase. Later, in 1875, Kwabena Atwere was recalled from Obogu to Wankyi, further south, by his grandfather, Kwabena Nyarko, whom he eventually succeeded as Oseawuohene in May 1884.
Between 1886-88, Nana Kwabena Atwere quarreled with Nana Attafua of Akyem Kotoku over revenues accruing from the ferry operated by Attafua over the Birem River at Nsuaem (modern Oda). By May 1888, about 4,000 troops, recruited by Atwere from various towns in the state of Akyem Abuakwa, to the east of Akyem Kotoku gathered on the northern bank of the Birem and threatened to attack Nsuaem and expel the Kotoku from Wankyi lands. To avert a breach of the peace and prevent a disruption of trade across the Birem at Nsuaem, the Gold Coast government sent Mr. Charles D. Turton, Assistant Colonial Secretary to Nsuaem to arbitrate the dispute.
Nana Kwabena Atwere, who was one of the most implacable foes of the British colonial administration, resented the government’s interference in what he regarded as a private quarrel. His resentment grew into open defiance, and from May 29 to June 11, 1888, the government was compelled to mobilise all its available forces at Nsuaem to protect it against the forces of Atwere and his Abuakwa allies.
On June 2, 1888, Inspector Brennan, the British officer in charge of the constabulary, consisting of about 150 Hausas, entered Wankyi and burned it to the ground. Nana Atwere was subsequently arrested in Accra, and was detained until August 8, when a warrant for his detention was issued by the Gold Coast Legislative Council. After nearly two months’ detention at Elmina Castle, he was exiled to Lagos, Nigeria, on September 28, 1888. While at Lagos, Atwere was not confined to prison, but was placed under house arrest and permitted to engage in gainful employment. On the advice of the governor of Nigeria, Gilbert J. Carter (term of office 1891-97), he subsequently invested £ 50, gained from cloth-weaving, into a rubber plantation in Ijebu, a province in southwest Nigeria. At the instance of the governor, he sent for rubber tappers from Obogu. Their activities in Nigeria resulted in the growth of a flourishing rubber industry based in Lagos.
But the Gold Coast government considered that Atwere was a serious security risk, and therefore rejected several petitions for his repatriation. Finally, however, he was allowed to return to the Gold Coast in August 1894, after the Omanhene and chiefs of Akyem Abuakwa had signed a bond for € 2,000, guaranteeing his good behavior. He arrived back in Accra on August 22, 1894, aboard S. S. Bathurst. He was reinstated as Oseawwohene in September. Subsequently, at the suggestion of Governor Carter, the Acting Colonial Secretary in 1897 presented Nana Atwere with £100, which had been voted by the Lagos Legislative Council in appreciation of his contribution to the city’s economy.
He died in June 1920 after a successful reign which had begun 36 years earlier.
R. ADDO-FENING
