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Federation of Consuls President
sheds tears at Assin-Manso
Assin-Manso (C/R), Oct. 14, Ghanadot/GNA - The President of
the World Federation of Consuls Mr Arnold Foote, who is
currently in Ghana for the celebration of the 25th
anniversary of the Federation on Tuesday shed tears when he
visited the historical town of Assin-Manso, where the remain
of two former slave ancestors Crystal and Carson, from
Jamaica and the united Sates, have been interred.
Adorned in a black traditional mourning cloth and native
sandals to match, Mr Foote, a Jamaican, laid a wreath each
on the tombs of Crystal and Carson, paid tribute to his
ancestral land, and shed the tears in the middle of an
address at a mini durbar of the chiefs and people of the
Assin-Apimanim traditional area.
Mr Foote, who was accompanied by his wife Patricia and Mr
Amarkai Amarteifio, Swedish Consul- General in Ghana and
Vice-President of the Federation, also visited the slave
river or ‘Ndokonsu’ where slaves brought from the hinterland
were given their last baths before being shipped off, and
remarked that he felt “revived and humbled” after he had
stepped into the river.
He also paid glowing tribute to “the two ancestors and all
those who paid the ultimate price by exchanging their lives
to free all slaves” and was hopeful that the monument in the
town will remain a strong link between Jamaica and Ghana.
He said some similarities in Jamaican and Ghanaians names,
food and towns, as well as in the construction of mud
houses, were indications that most Jamaicans were from
Ghana.
When he was taken through the Slave Receptive Centre by Mr
Eric Ohene Larbi, District Cultural Director, to see some of
the shackles used for the slaves, Mr Foote exclaimed “this
is inhuman, its time for paying back!”.
For his part, Barima Nkyi, Omanhene of the area, gave a
brief history of the town, which he said will forever serve
as a monument for people of African descent to trace their
roots.
He observed that the history of the slave trade could never
be wiped off, but will be re-told time and time again to
generations yet unborn, for them to appreciate what their
ancestors went through to serve as a unifying bond to those
at home and in the Diaspora.
The Assin-Manso township, reportedly played a major role in
the transporting and merchandise of slaves during the slave
period, and so the tombs of two former slaves, Crystal from
Jamaica and Samuel Carson from the US who were said to have
traced the ancestral roots to Ghana, have been erected as a
monument for Africans in the Diaspora to pay homage to.
GNA
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