Did you know many years ago a great controversy took over the Gold Coast? W B Griffith’s son had the audacity to strongly suggest and argue that Tetteh Quarshie wasn’t the first to introduce cocoa to Ghana! This matter became a big deal & made the local &West African newspapers

Griffiths argued that his dad, who was Governor and commander-in-chief of the Gold Coast from 1885 to 1895 was first to introduce the cocoa pods.

The basel missionaries too claimed to be the first to bring in the pods.

They tried to discredit and do our homie TQ dirty!

On the other end of the argument for TQ was J.W. Hammond, Quarshie’s nephew and successor. What he wasn’t gonna do was sit there, do nothing and fumble the inherited bag!

The matter was sent to Guggisberg to determine.
His findings were...insightful!

One can’t fumble a bag if they do not have it in the first place chale. His relatives still suffered a great deal and had to petition the stiff suits at the top for support. Dr Kwegyir Aggrey , friend of TQ, had to intervene somehow to fight for his friend. This didn’t yield much

More evidence that Tetteh Q was/is the OG!

While the BM’s were writing fictitious claims in their diaries thinking they could take advantage of TQ’s ‘illiteracy’ to claim they first brought cocoa, they forgot about v. important evidence for TQ: accounts of the Mampong farmers

J. W. Hammond was bent on leaving no room for doubt about his uncle’s legacy. Years after it was clear TQ was the rightful person to be credited for first introducing cocoa, Hammond wrote to Guggis attaching before and after photos of the original cocoa trees his uncle planted

What was a Ga man from La and Teshie doing in Mampong Akropong in the first place?

The baseless generalization you may have heard about us Ga’s is true. We seldom frolic.

So why did he?

Did you know, the first blacksmith to set up shop in Akwapim-Mampong was a Ga man? He was none other than Tetteh Quarshie! He learnt the trade as an apprentice at the Basel Mission and quickly became a strongly recommended master blacksmith! He only took up farming as a hobby!

Think about that for a second. Farming wasn’t his side hustle. It was his hobby. (His dad was a farmer so that’s probably where he got his green thumb)

It is believed the cocoa pods or beans (depending on what you believe) were actually given to his friends as gifts

: Google

Just did my googles and an article suggests Quarshie’s cocoa farm has been neglected and the main house with all the artifacts inside is closed? I really hope this isn’t true!

I have never been there but I’d love to!