30/11/2023
KWAHU PEOPLE: GHANA`S HARDWORKING AND BUSINESS-ORIENTED AKAN PEOPLE
Kwahu or Kwawu people are hardworking and famous business-oriented Kwa-speaking people that forms a subset of the larger Akan ethnic group living in the south-central Ghana, on the west shore of Lake Volta.
Kwahu people who speak a dialect of Akan language called Twi and live specifically in the mountainous Eastern Region of Ghana in the towns such as Abene, Abetifi, Pepease, Atibie, Nkwatia, Obo, Bepong, Tafo, Akwasiho, Obomeng, Twenedurase, Nteso, Mpraeso, Asakraka, Aduamoa, Pitiko, Sadan, Burukuwa, Nkantanane, Ahinasie and Donkorkrom. Macmillan and Kwamena Poh (1965) described the wonderful climate of their mountainous town, Abetifi as “… the Switzerland of West Africa, with nights as cool as May nights in Europe”. According to an associate professor at the Folklore Institute of Indiana University, the Kwahu are mountain-dwellers who are considered to be “wealthy …. very successful traders,.., who reside at the top of a mountain, a location which is somewhat removed from the other Akan groups” (Associate Professor of Folklore 5 Sept. 1999, 6, 10 Oct. 1999).
Paragliding
Kwahu people whose slogan is Asase Aban, Yεnte Gyae (Protectors of the Land, We don`t quit) and also Oboכּ (Rock) or Oboכּba (Child of the Rock) are very famous for their industriousness and uncanny entrepreneurial skills. Due to their ability to put up huge buildings and numerous wonderful mansions with expensive and advanced architecture on the mountains most people in Ghana usually accuse Kwahu people of indulging in ritual or blood money (sika aduro). Others say Kwahus use Nziema Bayie or wizardry in making money business. For being modest and being highly economic in any venture they undertake except business that brings them more money, people stereotype them as 'pεpεe' (misers).
Kwahus use red, black and white as their colours. The red represents the blood of their forefathers (ancestors) that was shed to save Kwahuman