J.A. Braimah, H.H. Tomlinson, and Osafroadu Amankwatia

About the Book

This book contains three papers describing the history, customs and organization of the Gonja state in northern Ghana. Gonja is one of the largest of the states in the area and has an interesting and complex history going back for several hundred years when, according to tradition, those who became the founders of Gonja rode their horses south from ancient Mali to investigate the reasons for the cessation of the northward flow of gold from the gold fields of the forest to the south. Not only is the history of Gonja described, but there is much about the customs, still largely preserved by this people, as also of the ways in which traditional government is carried out and the various rights and duties of different chiefs and authorities.

About the Authors

The three authors of papers in this volume all had different and complementary roles in the Gonja state.

J.A.Braimah, who died in 1987, was Yagbumwura (paramount chief) of Gonja with the title of Timu I. In the 1950s he was Minister of Communications in the pre-independence government of the Gold Coast under Kwame Nkrumah.

H.H.Tomlinson was a British District Office in Gonja in the 1950s and now lives in retirement in England. In addition to his work on the history and customs of Gonja, he has compiled a grammar and word list of the language.

Osafroadu Amankwatia was a Ghanaian lawyer who was educated at Durham and London universities. He practised law in Kumase from 1956 to 1972 and was legal advisor and counsel to the Reginal House of Chiefs in the Northern Region of Ghana from 1972 to 1975 when he died.

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