The twin Ewe Heros (Torgbui Tsala alias Okomfo kye and Torgbui Tsali)
Tsali and Tsala (alias
Okomfo kye) were twin brothers. Their father was Togbui Akplormada. These
brothers were mysteriously endowed with potent spiritual powers.
Tsala, who later became known as Okomfo Anokye, left Notsie on his sojourn at a
youthful age, and finally settled at Awukugua in present day Eastern Region.
Because of his spiritual powers, he became known as Okomfo Notsie (in Ewe
language, Notsie Hunor) or Notsie priest.
In Anlo oral history, we learnt Tsala (Okomfo Anokye) returned to Notsie around
1695 to consult with his brother Tsali before accepting the invitation of King
Osei Tutu of Ashanti to help establish his kingdom (Ashanti Kingdom).
During the reign of King Opoku Ware, a war broke out around 1746, Tsala (Okomfo
Anokye) sought permission from the king to visit his twin brother Tsali at
Keteklebi (Fiaxor) to celebrate and fortify himself at the annual Dzawuwu
celebration of Mama Adexe shrine before leading the Ashantis to the war which
he won decisively for the Ashanti kingdom.”
Is it any wonder that we currently have Anloga in Kumasi? Is this not a
testimony to the bonds of cooperation that must be maintained? Any call to the
cessation of this cooperation must be considered as misplaced, in error and of
no consequence.
An Anlo Chief in 1900
Our oral Ewe history informs us that “Komfo Anortsie” was a Dogbo Nyigbo man
called Amega Atsu Tsala Akpormada who used to live in Nortsie (a well
established settlement in the 1450s). Amega Atsu Tsala (aka Okomfo Anokye) and
Amega Tse Tsali (of Nortsie and Tsiame fame) are the twin sons of Amega Detor
Akplormada (‘the thrown spear”), whose father was Amega Tsamla, son of Mama
Kegbleape, one of the two daughters of Amega Gemedra of Nortsie, son of Amega
Kugborka Gbe of Ketu, who was the son of Amega Kodisenu, the son of Amega
Dzoboku. Amega Doe Dallah (father of Amega Anya, the founder of Anyako) was
born after Atsu Tsala and Tse Tsali.
Amega Atsu Tsala and Amega Tse Tsali had other siblings. Amega Gemedra’s other
children include Mama Kokui Doe Kutua Asongoe (Torgbi Sri I’s mother), Amega
Atsu Madokpui Wenya (Dogbo leader and founder of Laofe Clan), Amega Tse Adedze
Nyaki (Founder of Amlade Clan), and Amega Awaga Dotse Kpotsui (father of Bate
Clan founders).
Togbui Nyaho Tamakloe I
Just like Amega Kli (son of Torgbi Ekpe), Amega Aga (grandson of Tsamla) and
his father Amega Detor Akplormada, Atsu Tsala (Okomfo Anokye) did not migrate
with the Dogboawo to the present day Anlo (established around the 1650s). He
(Tsala aka Okomfo Anokye), Kli, Aga and others left Nortsie prior to the group
migration. Amega Kli was the one who volunteered as a friend to help Amega Aga
to escape from King Ago Akorli’s wrath after the “ame makumaku pe hlor biabia”
episode in Nortsie. Amega Kli subsequently founded present day Klikor
settlement and Amega Aga established Agavedzi and subsequently, Agave. Two of
the reasons why Amega Atsu Tsala left Nortsie prior to the group migration
include his dissatisfaction with and subsequent protest to the Dogbo elders
about how the “ame makumaku pe hlor biabia” and the “installation of Kponoe as
Fia over Dogboawo under a Tado stool” issues were handled at the time.
Togbi Sri II
One day in a fit of anger, Tsali … challenged his father to a public display of
supernatural powers (amlimatsitsi). In response to this challenge, the father
(Akplormada), removed his own intestines, washed them in a herbal preparation
and dried them to give more years of life to himself. Tsali turned into a hawk
and carried his father’s intestines away into space. Tsali searched in vain for
the tallest tree on which to settle and swallow the intestines of his father.
But Akplormada [had] commanded all the trees in the vicinity to be dwarfed. [He
then] turned himself into the tallest tree upon which Tsali came to settle.
Before Tsali could swallow his father’s intestines, Akplormada reached out his
hands and Tsali dropped the intestines right into his father’s unseen palms.
Akplormada [then] ridiculed his son with the words: You know how to turn into a
hawk as I had taught you, but you don’t know how to turn into a silk-cotton
tree.” Unquote.
Tsala/Okomfo Anokye Stone Oware
[At one time] the whole of Tongu met and decided to drown Tsali. Tsali before
his arrest had gathered all his personal effects into a haversack and slung it
over his shoulder. At the meeting, he was tied hands and feet … with a great
weight of granite rocks hung over his neck and fastened to his back. Looking
like a monster, Tsali was drowned in the … Volta [River]. The villagers saw him
sink, but on the third day, Tsali was seen by fishermen as he moved on the
waters floating on the back of a crocodile he had commanded to come to his
rescue. Floating adrift on the crocodile’s back, Tsali held aloft all the
granite rocks in his hands and was shouting “Vinowo, mikpo vida: parents behold
your child”. There was great consternation in the village: the fishermen
abandoned their canoes and ran for dear life. The women yelled and screamed,
calling on the whole village to come and see. Tsali [then] decided to leave
Tongu for good.”
Togbi Tsala/Okomfo Anokye Golden Stool for Asanteman
The granite rock attached on the back of Tsali to drown him still exists and a
shrine is built around it on the beach at Konu in Anyako where he dropped the
rock. We call it Tsalikpe. The clearing in the Kleve Forest where no plant ever
grows to this day was claimed to be the spot where Tsali sat on the ground to
explain to his father the problems he encountered on that expedition. These
events probably predated their migration from the Kleve Forest to Tsiame.
As pointed out by Kofi Ellison, it is true that the twin brothers, Atsu Tsala
(aka Okomfo Anokye) and Tse Tsali did not die natural deaths. They just
disappeared and to this day, nobody is able to tell where they went or were
buried if they die.
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