TSIBOE, JOHN WALLACE

John Wallace Tsiboe (September 21. 1904-September 10, 1963), who founded the Ashanti Pioneer in 1939, was a supporter of the movement for national independence after World War II.

He was a supporter of the United Gold Coast Convention party (U.G.C.C.), then of the Convention People’s Party (C.P.P.) of Kwame Nkrumah , and then of the various opposition parties which opposed the C.P.P. administration. His newspaper, the Ashanti Pioneer, which was banned in 1962, became a symbol of the freedom of the press in Ghana. His father was Nana Kwabena Tsibu, Nifahene (chief of the right wing of the army) of Assin Attandaso traditional area in what is now southern Ghana. His mother was Yaaya Efua Amoa of the royal house of Nana Etrue Bonsu of Abora Obehen, near Abora Dunkwa in what is now southeast Ghana.

After leaving the Wesleyan Boys School at Kumase, he was employed as a storekeeper by his uncle, Chief Yaw Badu-Kuma. After working for his uncle for some years, Tsiboe opened his own store in Kumase named the Kurankyi Stores and engaged in the import-export trade. He was hard-working and shrewd, and within a few years had become one of the wealthiest men in Asante. He was also a patriot and a nationalist and hated the colonial regime because of its racial discrimination and oppressive laws. He therefore determined to hasten the end of British colonialism and exploitation by establishing a newspaper to popularise his aims and ideals.

In 1937 he toured Europe. On his return, he founded the Abora Printing Press and began the publication of the Ashanti Pioneer, the first daily newspaper in Asante, in September 1939. By means of the Pioneer, he campaigned for political reforms and social justice and exposed the evils of colonialism. He advocated increased African participation in government and stressed that the Gold Coast had a distinctive African culture which had to be developed. As the first daily Asante newspaper, the Pioneer became the chief spokesınan on Asante affairs. In particular, it advocated the representation of Asante in the Gold Coast Legislative Council.

After World War II, Tsiboe joined the fight for the total liberation of his country from colonial rule. He was one of the executive members of the U.G.C.C. When this movement split up, as a result of the founding of the C.P.P. in 1949, Tsiboe, who was an admirer of Kwame Nkrumah, became the chairman of the C.P.P. in Asante. He believed, however, that high moral standards should be observed in politics, and though he agreed with the fundamental objectives of the C.P.P., he disagreed with his colleagues on the methods being adopted. In particular, he counselled against the introduction of violence into national politics, and when his advice was ignored, he broke with the C.P.P.

His disenchantment with the C.P.P. leadership did not lead him to abandon politics. He believed that the fight for freedom and social justice should continue. In October 1950, therefore, he, together with S. K. Cleland of the Obuasi Mine Workers Union, and Fred Loo of the Public Works Department Employees Union, formed the Gold Coast Labour Party. But this party soon broke up for lack of support, after which Tsiboe joined the Ghana Congress Party, led by Dr. K. A. Busia.

When the Congress Party failed to gain countrywide support, and the National Liberation Movement (N.L.M.) was formed in Asante in 1954 to advocate a federal form of government, Tsiboe became one of its leading members. He did not believe that federation was the answer to the national problem but was convinced that it was the most effective means of challenging the C.P.P. He argued at the meetings of the N.L.M. that dissatisfaction with the C.P.P. was so widespread that the party should strive hard to open branches in the south, and not concentrate upon Asante alone. This was done. In the 1956 general election, Tsiboe, backed by the N.L.M., stood as an independent candidate in the Abora-Asebu constituency in the south but lost.

In 1957, largely as a result of the pressures they had experienced from the C.P.P. administration, all the opposition parties came together to form the United Party (U.P.), which was inaugurated on November 3, with Dr. K. A. Busia as its leader. Tsiboe became the national treasurer for the U.P. and one of its leading members. After Ghana had become an independent nation, he continued to be a fearless critic of the C.P.P. administration. His Ashanti Pioneer, which was dubbed the “Opposition Paper,” continued to fight for social justice and decency in politics, and directed its efforts towards ensuring the liberty of the individual in Ghana. It criticised in scathing terms the Preventive Detention Act which the C.P.P. government had passed in 1958.

The government, which was opposed to political dissent, naturally looked upon the Ashanti Pioneer with disfavour, and the paper was banned in 1962. After that, there was no independent paper in Ghana until Nkrumah was overthrown in February 1966, after Tsiboe’s death. The Pioneer then reappeared. John Tsiboe died in London’s Westminster Hospital on September 10, 1963. He was buried at Abora Dunkwa.

J.K. FYNN