RST 31.

1 (2012) 7590 Religious Studies and Theology (print) ISSN 0892-2922

doi:10.1558/rsth.v31i1.75 Religious Studies and Theology (online) ISSN 1747-5414

Religion and Development:

African Traditional Religions Perspective

SAMUEL AWUAH-NYAMEKYE

University of Cape Coast, Ghana

kwasi.nyamekye@yahoo.com

Abstract
Unlike several decades after the World War II, there is now a growing
recognition of the importance of religion for designing development pro-
grammes and projects. However, the involvement of religions of the indig-
enous peoples is not given the desired attention. This article, therefore, aims
at presenting African traditional religions voice in this important discourse
by using the traditional Akan people of Ghana as a case study. Despite its
suffering from stereotyping, African traditional religion continues to play a
critical role in the life of the traditional African. The term Development
is not easy to define, the divergent theories on it point to this fact. The tra-
ditional Akan peoples understanding of development, however, is derived
from their religious worldview. The institution of chieftaincy, gerontocracy,
institution of taboos, kinship ties and their attitude towards nature are the
main development mechanisms among the Akan. Despite the threats these
mechanisms are undergoing today, the potential of these indigenous mech-
anisms for development is not in doubt, hence the need for further research.

Keywords
development, African traditional religion, Akan, kinship ties, totem,
sacred groves

Introduction
I am yet to see a community or a society that is anti-development. The concept
of development, however, is conceptualized differently by different people at
different times. In other words, what may be termed as development may be
relative to time and space. It is important to note that within development
discourse and practices, recent years have witnessed a growing recognition of

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76 Religion And Development
the importance of religion for designing development programmes and pro-
jects (Deneulin and Bano 2009, 24), unlike several decades after the World
War II, where most Western governments and development agents viewed
religion as part of the development problem (Haynes 2007, 1, 104).
Unfortunately, this involvement of religion in development discourse has
been highly selective. That is, the focus has been mainly on the so-called
higher religionsChristianity, Judaism, Islam and some eastern religions
such as Hinduism and Buddhism. The spirituality of the black Africans is not
given the attention that it deserves. It is this neglect of the so-called primal
religions in the discourse of development in modern world that has moti-
vated me to present the African Traditional Religious voice in this important
discourse. This would be done by using the traditional Akan, the largest eth-
nic society in Ghana as a case study (see Figure 1).
To put the discussion into perspective an attempt will be made to clarify
the two key terms in the topicAfrican traditional religion and Devel-
opment. In this article, traditional Akan people should be understood
as those Akan people who still hold on to the African indigenous religion
bequeathed to them by their ancestors as opposed to those who have been
influenced deeply by Western culture and other impinging faiths such as
Christianity and Islam and other foreign religious traditions. Even though
the Akan are being used here as a case study, other traditional Ghanaian soci-
eties and even other African societies will also be used in the discussion where
it is deemed appropriate.
What is African traditional religion?
I am aware of the long debate over whether the spirituality of the African
should be known either in the singular or plural form. That is, African tra-
ditional religion or African traditional religions (Mbiti 1969, 12; Idowu
1973, 103; Booth 1977, 3; Ikenga-Metu 1987, 19; Alolo 2007; Ejizu n.d).
The arguments cannot be discussed here due to space constraints. Permit me
simply to stipulate the singular form as preferred.
There is no doubt about the fact that African traditional religion can be said
to be one faith that has suffered abuses in terms of its nature and meaning
at the hands of people who claim to be scholars in the field, particularly the
armchair scholars. In consequence, African traditional religion, the spiritu-
ality of a descent race has been described in highly objectionable, obnoxious,
derogatory and pejorative terms such as: paganism, fetishism, animism, poly-
theism, juju, heathenism, native religion, etc. Many erroneously felt that the
African did not know God, and thus have to introduce God to the African.
Emil Ludwig, for instance said: How can the untutored Africans conceive
God? ... How can this be? ... Deity is a philosophical concept which savages

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Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye 77

Figure 1. Map of Ghana showing Akan areas.

are incapable of framing (cited in Smith 1950, 1). Or take Mary Kingsley:
When I say juju or fetish, I mean the religion of the native of West Africa
(cited in Opoku 1978, 4).
It is important to note that none of these descriptions of African traditional
religion is correct, for even the etymologies of many of the terms have nothing
at all to do with religion. For instance, paganism may be the oldest of the
names adopted to describe the religion of the so-called primitive or uncivi-
lized peoples of the world. This word has a Latin origin (paganus) and means
a village-dweller or a countryman, a person who lives away from the civilized
community. Thus, originally, the word was a sociological term, a term of dif-
ferentiation between the enlightened, the civilized and the sophisticated, on

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78 Religion And Development
the one hand, the rustic, the unpolished and the unsophisticated, on the other
(Idowu 1973, 116). It can be said that the root of the above notion may stem
from the fact that anything that does not conform to a certain cultural pattern
accepted as the norm by the Western investigator is regarded automatically as
primitive (Idowu 1973). If the above terminologies are not appropriate descrip-
tion of African traditional religion, what then is African traditional religion?
African traditional religion, properly understood, involves the belief and
worship of the Supreme Being known and revered all over Africa as Onyame
in Akan (of Ghana), Mawu in Ewe (of Ghana), and Oludumare in Yoruba
(Nigeria), Chineke in Ibo (Nigeria), Nkoo-Bot in Bulu (of Cameroon),
Ngewo in Mande (of Sierra Leon), Qamata in Xhosa (South Africa), Ngai
in East Africa, etc. The worship of the Onyame can be direct but is mostly
done indirectly through divine agents like the abosom (gods or divinities)
and the ancestors. African traditional theologians explain that one cannot
worship the Supreme Being formally without the agency of the divinities or
ancestors just as within the traditional political and diplomatic contexts one
cannot formally contact the king without the agency of his linguists or sub-
chiefs (Osei 2006). This phenomenological conception of African traditional
religion logically implies the rejection of the stupidity theory of religion
(Osei 2006) which maintains that African traditional religion and similar
non-Western religions are followed by irrational or foolish people who in
their stupidity bow down to stones, trees and rivers instead of the Creator
who created such objects. In the light of the more objective or scientific study
of religions, African traditional religion can no longer be justifiably character-
ized as stupid since the worshippers do not worship the said material objects
per se, but the Spirit of the Creator reflected in them (Osei 2006). According
to Awulalu when we say African traditional religion:
We mean the indigenous religion of the Africans. It is the religion that has
been handed down from generation to generation by the forebears of the
present generation of Africans. It is not a fossil religion (a thing of the past)
but a religion that Africans today have made theirs by living it and practicing
it. This is a religion that has no written literature, yet it is written every-
where for those who care to see and read. It is largely written in the peoples
myths and folktales, in their proverbs and pithy sayings. It is a religion whose
historical founder is neither known nor worshipped; it is a religion that has
no zeal for membership drive, yet it offers persistent fascination for Africans,
young or old. (Awulalu1976, 275)

Development from the general perspective

Divergent theories and conceptions of the term development demonstrate
that there is not a single definition for the concept of development. That is,
what the people of a community living at a particular time may consider as
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Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye 79
development may not be the case for the people of the same community at
a different time or for the people of a different community at the same time
or a different time. Deneulin and Bano state this thus: what development
practitioners conceive as valuable social change might not always be in tune
with the views of religious believers in these matters (2009, 26). This is also
true of the debate on better or worse means to achieve development (Haynes
2009, 6). All in all, development has long been vague yet predictive term,
struggling to acquire a precise meaning (Haynes 2009, 5).
Development has been viewed as a state of modernization as well as the
sustained increase in the real per capita income which results in social and
structural changes in a country over a long period of time. These changes
include the qualitative and quantitative improvement or transformation of a
countrys methods of production, roads, and hospitals, level of income, atti-
tude and quality of life (Aryetey 2002, 201). According to Sibanda (2009),
development refers to improvement in a countrys economic and social con-
ditions. Quoting the World Bank, he says, when referring to a country, it
will be taken to mean reaching an acceptable standard of living for all people.
It means that people have the basic things they need to live. The Free Dic-
tionary also describes development as a process in which something passes
by degrees to a different stage especially a more advanced or matured stage.
For many scholars today, when we talk of development, then, we are talk-
ing about means of reaching an acceptable standard of living for all people.
It means that people have the basic things they need to live and, at the same
time, all the people have the right to make choices about their lives, and have
the opportunity to improve their living situations (see The World Bank n.d.).
Thus it is clear that development is seen in materialistic and economic terms.
Scholars like Joseph Osei have a problem when development is defined in this
way because for him, development does not mean mere economic growth
or westernization, but rather [t]he total sum of a countrys well-being virtues
minus the total sum of the countrys well-being vices (Osei 1995, 35). While
well-being qualities include modernization, democratization, qualitative edu-
cation and critical consciousness, the well-being vices include dependency,
bribery and corruption, unwarranted military interventions, dictatorships
and the abuse of human rights, etc. (Osei 1995, 35). This moral and holistic
conception of development is shared by the eminent African scholar Kwame
Gyekye, who has argued that to take development seriously
means to take it in terms of adequate responses to the entire existential condi-
tions in which human beings function, conditions which encompass the eco-
nomic, political, moral, cultural and others spheres, and not just economic or
materialistic spheres.
(quoted in Osei 2006 n.d.)

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80 Religion And Development
Development from the perspective of the traditional Akan people
The Akan who are adherents of African traditional religion have a religious
worldview and therefore place much emphasis on the role religion plays in
their developmental agenda. That is, the traditional Akan peoples under-
standing of development is derived from their religious worldview because
they do not divorce their religious life from the other aspects of their lives,
be they social, economic, political, etc. They exemplify what Opoku observes
about the Africans:
A close observation of Africa and its societies will reveal that religion is at the
root of African culture and is the determining principle of African life. It is
no exaggeration, therefore, to say that in traditional Africa, religion is life and
life, religion. Africans are engaged in religion in whatever they dowhether
it be farming, fishing or hunting; or simply eating, drinking or travelling.
Religion gives meaning and significance to their lives; both in this world and
the next. It is hence not an abstraction but a part of reality and everyday life.
(Opoku 1978, 1)
The implication of this is that for the traditional Akan and, for that mat-
ter, African societies in general, development is related to the communitys
harmonious relationship with the Supreme Being, ancestors, the gods and
the other spirit beings. This is because in their worldview these beings can
make and unmake. The Akan have a holistic attitude to life and thus they
see development as any other human activity which aims at affirming life in
a holistic way that will enable every generation to ensure its survival and be
able to hand over the survival status to the future generation as directed by
religion. Therefore, development in the view of the traditional Akan is the
judicious utilization of resources (both natural and human) with the view to
achieving growth and meaningful life for the present generation and the sub-
sequent ones (Awuah-Nyamekye 2009a, 28). In other words, development in
the life and thought of the traditional Akan is a means of ensuring a holistic
or all-inclusive well-being of humans utilizing judiciously the total environ-
ment of the people from the religious or sacral point of view (human and
economic development), but not a situation where there is economic growth
at the cost of greater inequality, high unemployment, lost of cultural identity,
consumption of foreign goods and depletion of resources needed by future
generations. That is, secularism has no place in traditional Akan society.
In the following section, the focus will be on the indicators of development
in the traditional Akan society.
The indices of development in the life and thought of the traditional Akan
Unlike today, where some see impressive economic growth figures as devel-
opment in a nation, regardless of the real total conditions of the people, the

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Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye 81
indicators of development among the Akan are seen in the absence of all life-
negating phenomena. Specifically, this includes diseases, poverty, crop failure,
ignorance, premature deaths, barrenness, sterility and other misfortunes in
general. And it includes the presence of all life-affirming phenomena such
as security, which translates into long life, more children, bumper harvest,
absence of misfortunes and the like. But they also have a firm belief that
development does not come as a gift on a silver platter, but every society
and every individual must take collective and conscious steps to bring about
development within their reach.
The above discussion demonstrates that development is not limited to the
physical environment but it is defined to include human development and
social harmony (social environment), for it is human beings who are the
beneficiaries of development and, thus, development will be meaningless if it
leads to social conflict. For the traditional Akan, the presence of impressive
growth figures, good roads, housing, health care facilities amidst insecuri-
ties such as unemployment, and few people benefiting from the national
cake, armed robbery, rape, culture of silence, delayed justice delivery, is a far
cry from the true meaning of development. The peoples understanding of
development also explains the reason why in the traditional African milieu, a
carefully thought-out code of conduct has been designed to ensure harmoni-
ous relationships, peace and the dignity of the human person. Unity and the
sense of community-living are among the most cherished values among the
traditional Africans. This also accounts for why, in many traditional African
societies, the first person plural we and ours feature actively in their eve-
ryday speech, emphasizing what Mbiti says of the African: I am because we
are, and since we are, therefore I am (1990, 106). It is only when the above
objectives are achieved that development becomes meaningful. It is impor-
tant to state here that there is a sustainable dimension to development among
the Akan because humanity includes those yet to be born. This explains why
the welfare of the future generations is considered in the everyday activity of
the traditional Akan. The Akan say adi di daa ye kyen adi preko (Awuah-
Nyamekye 2009a, 28), which means it is not good to eat all that you have
in one day. This proverb indeed sums up the traditional Akan understanding
of the concept of sustainable development.
One can deduce from the foregoing discussion that among the traditional
Akan people the concept of development is as old as the human race. In other
words, the concept of development has been clear to them so many years ago.
This runs contrary to modern thought and the debates about what really the
concept of development entails and when it started (sees Sachs 1992; Cowen
1996; Preston1996; Todaro 2006; Escobar 1995, quoted in Deneulin and
Bano 2009, 2829). Scholars say it was after World War II that the idea

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82 Religion And Development
of development started to become clear and thus appeared on international
agenda (Haynes 2009, 5). It is significant, however, to point out that some
of the Akan development indicators mentioned above may be seen as anti-
development. One can cite the maintenance of many children due to the
ramifications that may result from it. This is likely to perpetuate poverty, one
of the sores that any progressive society wants to fight and eradicate.
Mechanisms to ensure development in traditional Akan society
It has been pointed out that no development can take place in a chaotic
environment and consequently traditional Akan people have put measures in
place to ensure social harmony, political stability and peace in the traditional
society. One can say that no objective observer can deny the fact of African
traditional religions contribution in shaping the moral life of the Akan and
the Ghanaians in general. Though religion may be distinct and separate from
morality, as many scholars have argued, the line dividing the two is very thin
for the traditional Akan (see Opoku 1978, 153f ).
In the traditional Akan worldview, the Supreme Being, the gods, the ances-
tors and the other spirits are believed to serve as policemen. This is because
for them, the laws, customs, taboos and other code of ethics in traditional
Akan societies have divine backing; they are believed to have been sanctioned
by the gods and ancestors, who invoke sanctions on anyone who disobeys
them. There is compliance even when one is in solitude due to this firm belief
of the people (Awuah-Nyamekye 2009a, 31). And it is difficult to deny the
fact that African traditional religion has influenced the moral life of the Afri-
can today. For instance, the fact that Ghanaians have been priding themselves
with the Ghanaian hospitality could be said to have been derived from
African traditional religion, in that there is the belief that the gods and the
ancestors could assume fleshy form and visit relatives or people as strangers
or sick people in order to put their kindness to test (this is a common belief
among the Akan and most of my key informants confirmed it). It is believed
that if one does not show kindness to such spirit-turned-human-beings one
could suffer for it. In fact, it is this belief that has gradually infiltrated the
moral life of the Ghanaian and hence the accolade Ghanaian Hospitality.
African traditional religion is highly anthropocentric. Olupona (1987,
4) quotes Oosthuizen (1987) as having corroborated this when he remarks
African traditional religion essentially promotes a strong sense of commu-
nity and is oriented towards human beings rather [than] things. The sense of
belongingness is a very important social factor among the Akan, for it is their
belief that in unity, mountains can be moved. This makes them, for cause of
general good, subordinate individuals goals to those of the communitys. In
other words, the law of participation prevailseverything is part of every-

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Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye 83
thing else, the group precedes the individual (Oosthuizen 1987, 39, quoting
Levy-Bruhl 1925).
Traditional Akan people have a variety of ways to ensure development but
for the purposes of this paper, five major ones are discussed. These are the
institution of chieftaincy, gerontocracy, taboos, kinship ties and their attitude
towards nature (water bodies, totem and sacred groves).
Chieftaincy
The adherents of African traditional religion are very much aware of the fact
that development will be difficult to achieve without authority. Hence the
establishment of the chieftaincy institution is to serve as an authority or a
pivot around which development revolves. Chieftaincy is a system of govern-
ment or political organization whose leader is known as Ohene (chief ) in Akan
(Busia 1951; Odotei and Awedoba 2006; Awuah-Nyamekye 2001, 2009).
Among the Akan people the Ohene is mostly selected from the maternal line-
age. To ensure that the authority of the chief is recognized by all the members
of community, clearly-defined procedures are followed in the selection and
installation of a chief. For instance, the selection must be done democrati-
cally. It is usually by consensus. Only royals that can aspire to become chiefs
and, even so, it is a taboo even for a royal to proclaim himself or herself a chief
without authorization from the king-makers, i.e., those accredited to confer
chiefship on people in Akan society. It is also a taboo for someone to insult or
argue angrily with the chief in public. It is also a sin for the chief to strike or be
struck, for he is seen as the earthly representative of the ancestors of the entire
community (Busia 1951; Owusu Brempong 2006; Awuah-Nyamekye 2009c,
4; Ephirim-Donkor 2010, 73). All these are meant to protect the sacredness
of the person of the chief and the sanctity of the institution of chieftaincy.
The major occupation in traditional Akan society is farming. This makes
land an important economic resource. For this reason, land and other com-
munal resources in this society are held in trust by the chief (Hunter 1963;
Benne 1965; Hill 1970; La Anyane 1972; Asenso-Okyere et al. 1993; Amanor
1994, quoted in Sarfo-Mensah 2001). The chief is also responsible for mobi-
lizing his or her people for development (Sarfo-Mensah 2001).
Gerontocracy
Among the Akan, a chief has other office holders to assist him. These are the
Ohemaa or the Obaahenmaa, which is loosely translated as queen mother
in Ghana, the abusuanpaninfoo (plural) abusuapanin (singular), heads of the
families or head of a family, and in some cases respectable people in the com-
munity. These groups of people who help the chief to rule are commonly
known as Council of Elders. One of the responsibilities of the Council of

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84 Religion And Development
Elders is to make sure that the chief does not abuse his or her office. In other
words, the Council of Elders limits the chief s powers just as the powers of a
president of a country today are limited by the constitution and other institu-
tions such as the legislature and the judiciary as stipulated by the theory of
separation of powers (see Awuah-Nyamekye 2001).
The authority of the abusuapanin or the obaapanin lies in the belief that
he or she represents the dead ancestors of the abusua (the family). And since
the abusua is the main centre around which the dynamics of subsistence and
other natural resources management revolves, the abusuapanin often has the
final say in resource allocation and utilization as well as in management gen-
erally (Sarfo-Mensah 2001). It is the abusuapanin who takes the custody of all
the abusua asase (family lands). For this reason, it is his or her responsibility
to ensure that each member of the family is given his or her fair share of this
important resource for both the individuals and the communitys survival
(see Magesa 1997, 277; Alolo 2007, 41; Sarfo-Mensah 2001). It is for this
reason that any disgruntled family members may lodge complaints relating
to land and other natural resources management issues with the abusuapanin.
It is referred to the chief for arbitration only when the individual is still not
satisfied with abusuapanins verdict (Sarfo-Mensah 2001).
It is against this background that the institution of chieftaincy and respect
for gerontocracy are mostly recognized in the Akan and all traditional socie-
ties in Ghana (Rattray 1923; McLeod 1981; Akyeampong and Obeng 1995;
McCaskie 1995, quoted in Sarfo-Mensah 2001). This explains the reason
why matters pertaining to land use are taken seriously among the Akan. This
they do in the belief that land belongs to the founding ancestors of the society
concerned and thus anyone who violates this injunction will incur the wrath
of their ancestors (see Ephirim-Donkor 2010, 73).
Kinship ties
The hierarchy and power structure of kinship among the Akan is similar to
the chieftaincy (Sarfo-Mensah 2001) with abusuapanin as the head of the
hierarchy. The head is referred to as adehyepanin (head of the royal family) if
the family is of royal origin. A royal family in Akan refers to the family whose
ancestors founded the community in which they live. It is the responsibility
of the abusuapanin to ensure the welfare of members of his or her family.
Therefore, he or she has a social and, particularly, a religious responsibility
to ensure just that. For instance, poverty has been noted to be one of the
major hindrances to development (Rashid 1996, 12). Aware of this, Akan
religion and culture inculcate the sense of sharing and hospitality among
kith and kin and even among members of the larger community (see Ejizu,
n.d). This is the basis of the extended family system among the Akan of

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Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye 85
Ghana (see Awuah-Nyamekye 2009a, 33). Also, the training of the young to
become responsible adults rests not only on the parents but also on the other
members of the family. These measures, in which the ancestors have a role to
play, will keep poverty at a lower level and thus ensure that no one becomes
a social and economic liability so as to pose a threat to sustainable develop-
ment (Awuah-Nyamekye 2009a). This may be seen as the traditional peoples
modest way of redistributing wealth.
The institution of taboo
One major means by which social harmony and morality is be achieved, thus
ensuring development in traditional Akan society, is through the application
and enforcement of taboos, which are inextricable attributes of African Reli-
gion. The word taboo is a derivation from the Polynesian term tabu, which
simply means forbidden. It may be applied to any form of prohibition (Sar-
pong 1974, 51). The Akan word for taboo is mmusuo. Among the Akan, the
breaking of certain categories of taboo (to commit murder or suicide, seduce
someones wife, for example) is considered a sin. In traditional Akan society
people tread cautiously in anything that involves a taboo because the conse-
quences for breaking a taboo are believed to be terrible. There are innumer-
able taboos through which peace, harmony, sanity, stability and development
are realized. For instance, to ensure law and order and to ensure social har-
mony, it is a taboo to commit murder or suicide, seduce someones wife, bear
false witness against a fellow human being, trace the genealogy or ancestry of
someone with the view to embarrassing him or her, etc. In some instances,
such as incest or adultery with the chief s wife, the violation of a taboo may
result in capital punishment (Sarpong 1974, 51). Taboos, therefore, regu-
late the behaviour of the people. Thus, for example, to ensure sanity in the
economic life of the people, it is a taboo to steal from the public treasury
or communal properties which are of considerable value. It is also a taboo
to shift farm boundaries without authorization. Uprooting of planted food
items is also a taboo (see Osei 2006). Generally, taboos abound around land
administration (Sarpong 1974, Asiamah 2007; see Awuah-Nyamekye 2009c,
280), management of public funds and behaviour of public office holders.
Attitude towards nature
In the thinking of the traditional Akan people, human beings did not just
happen to be in the world. Rather, they were made to live in the world because
they were made to live by means of the resources in their environment. This
means that environmental consciousness had been part and parcel of the tra-
ditional Akan (Awuah-Nyamekye 2009c). In view of this, they have put in
place stringent measures to ensure the conservation of the environment.

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86 Religion And Development
They know that water is certainly one of the essential elements in sustain-
able development. Therefore, in traditional Akan society, it is a sin (taboo)
to defecate near a river. It is also a sin to farm near watersheds or the source
of a river. This injunction is certainly meant to ensure that the river is not
exposed to the direct rays of the sun, which can lead to excessive evapora-
tion and thereby the river becoming dried up (Awuah-Nyamekye 2009a, 34).
Evidently this is the traditional Africans way of ensuring perennial flow of
water in the river. Bosompo (the sea goddess) is viewed as a sacred entity.
Hence in Ghana a particular day of the week, Tuesday, is reserved as its sacred
day during which it is a taboo to fish in the sea. Apart from the religious
connotation of the day, this act can also be seen as a way of giving the sea a
breathing space to replenish its fishes. It is also a taboo to use unauthorized
means to fish, e.g., through the use of chemicals.
Totem is a term derived from the North American Ojibwa word ototomen
or maternal relatives (Rose, James and Watson, 2003). Amongst the Akan
people, the largest ethnic group in Ghana, the word which most closely fits
the understanding of totem is Akyeneboa. This term is literally translated as
an animal that one leans upon or relies on for spiritual protection (Awuah-
Nyamekye, 2012). The study of totems shows that apart from the religious
undertone, the concept of totemism helps in the conservation of the flora
and fauna. This is because totemic plants and animals are not harmed but are
rather protected in traditional African societies and thereby protecting the
lives of the endangered species.
Another measure used by the Akan (and, in fact, throughout traditional
Africa) to ensure environmental conservation is the institution of sacred
groves. Sacred groves are protected, conserved and maintained through a
combination of taboos, prohibitions, beliefs and restrictions, because the for-
ests are believed to be the abodes of their totemic plants and animals. For
instance, Ananes (1997, 101) research indicates that, the Boabeng-Fiema
monkey sanctuary in the Nkoranza District of Ghana, is one of the richest
Ghanaian forests in terms of diverse types and rare species of monkeys like
the Black and White Colobus and Mona monkeys. These species are consid-
ered sacred by the people of Buabeng and Fiema villages. Here, the unharmed
children of the gods have for hundreds of years come into the villages daily
to eat and play. The sanctuary is also rich in trees of about 125 known spe-
cies. They include such rare ones as Pericopsis elata. Also, these sacred groves,
apart from serving as shrines, can as well serve as windbreaks and also aid in
photosynthesis and its resultant oxygen production, which are very essential
for human survival (Awuah-Nyamekye 2009a).
It is to be noted, however, that these traditional mechanisms employed to
ensure development in a sustainable way are under threat of late. Sarfo-Men-

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Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye 87
sah and Oduro (2010) observe: In Ghana, recent studies point to an increase
disregard for traditional rules and regulations, beliefs and practices that are
associated with natural resources management. This unfortunate situation
may be attributed to a number of factors. The major ones include impinging
religious traditions such as Christianity and Islam as well as misuse of Western
education and urbanization. In Ghana now, Christians and Muslims deni-
grate indigenous religion, which is the basis of traditional Akan development
strategies, as no religion (demonic) and this view has gained roots and thus
has affected the hold of the indigenous religion on the people. Many Ghana-
ians who have received Western education tend to view indigenous religion as
the religion of the illiterate rural folk and disregard it. Also, many Ghanaians
who move to stay in the urban centres return home with a negative attitude
towards the traditional ways of doing things; for instance, they break tradi-
tional religious prohibitions with impunity (see Attuquafio and Fobil 2005).
In spite of the situation just described, the potential of the indigenous
mechanisms for development, particularly in sustainable development is not
in doubt and hence, the need for further research to discover how such ways
could be blended with the modern development strategies for the benefit of all.
Conclusion
I have not only demonstrated that development is one of the major concerns
for Akan peoples, but also pointed out some of the concrete ways in which
religion guides them to ensure development. And I have also not only exam-
ined the concept of development from both the traditional and contempo-
rary perspectives, but also touched on the fact that the philosophies under-
pinning development both in the traditional and the contemporary times are
fundamentally not different. The only difference that exists lies in the method
or means of ensuring development. While the traditionalist is guided by reli-
gious principles, the contemporary Ghanaian uses secular means to achieve
development. That is, the two are using different means to achieve the same
goal. The logical deduction from this is that African traditional religion not
only promotes development, but also has concrete measures to ensure devel-
opment. What remains to be done is to conduct more research into how to
blend the modern means of development and those of African traditional
peoples for the benefit of Ghanaians in general and the Akan in particular.
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