29th February 1948.

People in the Gold Coast were frustrated and unhappy with the state of affairs, all right. But nobody would have expected what happened the previous day.

Nobody would have expected that the ex-servicemen’s procession would end up being as deadly as it turned out to be. Nobody would have expected that the boycott would so anticlimactic.

And certainly, nobody expected such carnage and chaos would occur as a result of these two events.

And it wasn’t over.

Kingsway Wholesale Stores was already filled with looters that morning, who were busily stripping the shop of all its drinks. People rushed in and made out with bottles of liquor and spirits in their arms. Any unlucky European passing by in their car was attacked with stones.

The furore was nowhere near over. People were still angry and weren’t hesitating to let it be known.

***

Meanwhile, in the town of Adukrom, news of the havoc in Accra was filtering through.

With some level of violence erupting around that part of town, as some people descended upon some cutting-out squads at a few cocoa farms and beat them up, this was of note to the inhabitants.

And as he and his people made their way to Efo Avudega’s farm, David couldn’t have been happier with the news of what was going on.

“It’s beautiful kraaaa,” he declared as he walked with his brother and Mustapha and Mohammed. “These Europeans just want to destroy this nation as much as they can. As for me, it doesn’t worry me kraaa, I’m very happy.”

“Indeed. Destroy all their things kraaa,”Elorm added. “Take all their items. We’re tired of their foolishness. Heh, we are tired.”

“You said it ooo, David. That one day one day, people will get tired and tempers will boil over,” Mustapha added. “Now here it is.”

“Yes, yes, I said it. Na what do you expect? You make us suffer in our own land, and now you’ve resorted to killing us? Hwɛ, there’s a limit to the foolishness we can take ooo,” David said.

“Indeed. Na these old soldiers kraaa, what is their crime?” Mohammed asked. “Give them what they want aa, you won’t give them. Now that they are asking for it, you are shooting them? How? After they’ve given their lives to fight for you!”

“It’s just disgusting, my brother. It’s just disgu… ah, wait.”

David stopped in mid-sentence as he noticed a group of men in one of the cocoa farms nearby. They seemed to have some tools in their hands and were moving to one section of the farm.

“Is that…”

“Ah, it’s these cutting-out squads again!” Elorm exclaimed. “So after some people beat them yesterday, they won’t learn sense?”

Before anyone else could comment any further, they heard angry cries, and turned in the direction of those cries. A group of men, possibly the owners of that farm, were rushing towards the workers, who immediately saw what was happening and took to their heels.

“HEY! GET BACK HERE!”

David yelled as he began to run after the workers. His squad was right behind him, ready to dish out some punishment upon them for daring to return.

Being pursued by two groups of angry men was not a pleasant thing to experience, and with both groups chasing them from different directions, it wasn’t gonna be easy to escape. Before they knew it, the group of five workers from the Agriculture Department were in a huddle, receiving savage kicks and punches from the group of angry men.

“Do you know how we struggled to build this farm, and you’re coming to cut our trees just like that?” Mustapha snarled as he kicked out as fiercely as he could.

“Foolish men! We’ll not let you destroy our hard work! Nonsense!” one other man shot at their victims.

“Swine!” David barked at the men on the ground. “Next time you’ll learn sense before coming after our trees!”

The workers were helpless as their aggressors, including David and his boys, beat them up ruthlessly.

***

10:57 am, and while the riots continued unabated, Nii Amarteifio and the other surviving ex-servicemen who were hit by the bullets from Imray were resting in the ward of Bart-Plange Clinic. It had been an extremely busy day for the clinic the previous day when they were brought in, as the doctors and nurses fell over themselves to save the lives of these gallant men of war who had been struck by the superintendent’s shots.

Thankfully, none of them were in danger; their wounds were not life-threatening. So this morning was for resting.

Since early morning, a myriad of visitors had made their way into the ward, with spouses and children attending to their husbands and fathers and feeling relieved that they had not been as unfortunate as the three soldiers that had been taken out.

And at 10:57 am, it was Nii Amarteifio’s turn to have a visitor.

Not that he was exactly looking forward to her visit, though.

His face took on a bland and unenthusiastic look as his wife entered the ward with a basket in her hand.

The unhappy look on her face as she approached him made it obvious that she was as unenthusiastic about this visit as he was. She might have been relieved to hear he was only struck in the arm by one of the stray bullets, but he knew she was ready to spill the words ‘I told you so’ at any point.

As she took out a bowl filled with rice and tomato stew from the basket, she placed it on the table beside him, without so much as a look in his direction.

“How are you feeling?” she asked dryly.

“There’s some pain in my elbow, but I’ll be fine,” Nii Amarteifio responded.

“Mmmmm.”

A moment of silence followed, as she opened the bowl and handed it over to him. He obediently took it, received the spoon in her hand, and took a few bites. Through it all, not so much as a word was spoken between them.

Then Nii Amarteifio asked, “Where are the children?”

“I left them with Nii Lante.”

“Oh, but why didn’t you bring them over so I see them?”

“I don’t want them to see you like this.”

Nii Amarteifio’s eyes narrowed at that statement. What in the world did she mean by that?

Because the tone of her voice did not carry that of compassion to indicate that she didn’t want the children to see their father in a bad state. Nope, it was one of thinly veiled disgust to indicate that she did not want the young ones to see why it was a bad idea to fight the power.

Before he could react to that, one colleague’s wife commented to her husband, “It was not easy getting here. The riots in town are serious.”

Nii turned in the direction of his colleague and wife. “Really? Riots are going on?”

The lady nodded. “Since yesterday. People have looted all those big stores the AWAM people own, some of them have been set on fire, havoc all over the streets… it’s serious.”

Nii Amarteifio nodded in approval. “Wonderful! It’s time the people of Gold Coast show this government that we’re tired of their nonsense!”

He turned to his wife.

The coldest of looks had formed on her face. Her displeasure at his statement was crystal clear for him to see.

But of course, Nii Amarteifio was hardly bothered by how Naa Anyema felt.

Staring her in the eye, he asked, “We’ve had enough of this! They can’t continue to trample upon us and expect we’ll wave it off and leave it in God’s hands! We’ll not take that route. Never!”

As he turned to the other colleague and his wife, who agreed vehemently with him, he felt the extra weight on his bed lessen.

He turned, and Naa Anyema was storming out of the ward.

As the rest of the ex-soldier patients and their visitors watched on in confusion, Nii Amarteifio shook his head and smirked. He knew she was probably gonna raise hell in that house once he returned, but he didn’t care.

He meant what he meant. And he owed her no apologies whatsoever.

***

At the office of the Secretary of State for the colonies, a telegram had just arrived.

It was from the General Secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention, about the ongoing riots.

After permitting peaceful demonstration of unarmed ex-servicemen Police without provocation fired on them Several killed many wounded.

Police and political officers unable to protect life and property.

Civil authorities unable to control situation appealed to certain civilians who are officers of the United Gold Coast Convention to restore order. Main shops in commercial areas looted. UAC Central Store burned down. People demand Self-government immediately. Recall Governor. Send Commission supervise formation Constituent Assembly. Urgent.

We know who that General Secretary is, don’t we? Yep, we all do. By the way, I don’t envisage the Amarteifio house is gonna be a peaceful one. At all…