Darimani

Na Darimani (Kukra Adjei), was a Ya-Na of Dagbon, located in the northern part of modern day Ghana. He was said to have ruled Dagbon for only seven weeks in 1899 but occupies a very important aspect of the Dagbon chieftaincy conflict.

Before Na Andani died in 1899, he had advised his children that Na Allassani of Karaga, who was the first son of Na Abudu, should be made the next Ya-Na, and that Na Andani's eldest son, Tugulan Yiri should then move to Karaga. But when he died, his eldest son Tugulan Yiri refused this and went to Savelugu and brought Dahamani (Darimani Kukra Adjei) to be the next Ya-Na. He said he did not want Karaga, he wanted Savelugu (Staniland 1974, Mahama 1987 and Anamzoya 2004). If there is a claim that there had been a system of rotation, this was not respected in this regard. Hence, the elders, whatever method they used either through soothsaying or by dancing to the personal whims of Tugu Lana Yiri (Tuguna Yiri), made Kukaridjei (the chief of Savelugu) the Ya Na. Tamakloe (1931:43) sympathizes with the elders of Dagbon when he said that “the elders reluctantly did what was asked of them.” In any case Allassani did not accept the choice of the kingmakers and what happened later was rather conflicting. Na Allassani who was refused the Namship would not allow that. He went to Sansan Mangu and invited the Germans who came and crushed the Andanis, chased away Darimani after he had spent seven weeks in the Gbewaa Palace and gave the flag to Allassani (i.e. enstalled him as Ya-Na).

The Palace that Na Allassani was to occupy after the Germans sacked the Andani king (i.e. Darimani) was burnt down by the Andanis to stop Na Allassani from occupying it. Their argument was that it was their grandfather, Na Andani who built it and that the Abudus should also build a palace for their Ya Na. Na Alassani then went about hundred metres away and built The Gbewaa Palace which was used by all subsequent Ya Nas until it was burnt down in the 2002 conflict. In fact, where the temporal palace is being constructed is on the ruins of that old palace the Andanis burnt in 1899.

What is important about the brief Namship of Darimani was that it breached the principle of rotation that is if it existed, it sowed the seeds of deep mitrust, and it led to the very first major encounter between the Abudu Gate and the Andani Gate. It is not therefore surprising to people like us that certain scholars would not want to include Na Darimani among the Ya Nas of Dagbon in order to conceal certain issues and twist facts.

Sources

• Anamzoya, Sulemana, A. (2004). "A Sociological Enquiry into the 2002 Dagbon Chieftaincy Conflict in the Northern Region of Ghana." Unpublished Mphil Thesis, Department of Sociology, University of Ghana.

___ (2008). "Politicization, Elite Manipulation or Instituitonal Weaknesses? The Search for Alternative Explanations to the Dagbon Chieftaincy Disputes in Northern Ghana," in Research Review NS 24 1 1-25.