THE KONKOMBA PEOPLE

The Konkomba people are a Gur ethnic group residing mainly in the Northern, Brong Ahafo,

Volta, Eastern and Greater Accra Regions of Ghana. According to the Act 280 of the Anatomy

act of Ghana, the Konkomba people (known as Bikpakpaam) are the second largest ethnic

group in the Northern Region of Ghana.

The Konkomba speak of themselves as Bekpokpam, of their language as Lekpokpam and of

their country as Kekpokpam. They know the Dagomba, their neighbours to the west, as

Bedagbam, of all their neighbours the Dagomba are the most important to Konkomba, since it

was the Dagomba who expelled them from what is now eastern Dagomba. The story of the

invasion is briefly stated by Konkomba and recited at length in the drum chants of Dagomba.

The Dagomba invasion . . . according to one account, occurred in the early sixteenth century in

the reign of Na (Chief) Sitobu.

Origin and History

The origin of Bikpakpaam has been a subject of research for a long time now. It is on record that

Bikpakpaam settled more widely in the eastern corridor before the arrival of many other ethnic

groups in the northern regions of Ghana in the 1400s and 1500s. Bikpakpaam then migrated into

other territories in the first half of twentieth century, partly occasioned by colonial pressures and

partly in search of fertile farmlands. This opened the door for other tribes to enter and occupy

their lands.

The history of where Bikpakpaam came from to settle in Ghana is not well known. What is

known, however, is that Bikpakpaam occupied the area called Kyali/Chare (now Yendi) until
the Dagombas advanced further east with their expansion and pushed them further away with the

support of the colonial masters. Fynn (1971) asserts 'we know that the ancestors of the

Dagombas met a people akin to the Konkomba already living in northern Ghana’.

According to narratives by elders of Kikpakpaan, the Gonjas, under Ndewura Jakpa, defeated

Dagombas under Ya Na Dariziogo and compelled the latter to abandon their capital (currently

believed to be Tamale/Kumbungu areas) and move it to its present site, Yendi, which was then a

Bikpakpaam town called Chare. The newcomers pushed back Bikpakpaam and established

divisions among them. Despite the assertion of suzerainty, Dagombas seem never to have

exercised close control over Bikpakpaam.

According to Martin (1976), the Dagombas pushed back the Konkomba and established

divisional chiefs among them. The main towns had the character of outposts, strategically located

on the east bank of the River Oti but Bikpakpaam were by no means assimilated. Relations

between them and the Dagombas were distant and hostile. There was little, if any, mixing by

marriage. Part of the oral history of the creation of Dagbon suggests that the Dagombas

conquered Bikpakpaam when they moved into the eastern part of the Northern Region.

Bikpakpaam however have vehemently and consistently refused the claim that they were in the

battle against Dagombas. The Konkomba have often insisted that they voluntarily moved away,

in search for fertile lands and greener pastures for their livestock, when Dagombas arrived.

David Tait (1964) quotes an elder of Bikpakpaam as saying "When we grew up and reached our

fathers they told us that they (our forefathers) stayed in Yaa [Yendi]. The Kabre and the Bekwom

were here. The Dagomba were in Tamale and Kumbungu. The Dagomba rose and mounted their

horses. We saw their horses, that is why we rose up and gave the land to the Dagomba. We rose

up and got here with the Bekwom. The Bekwom rose up and went across the river. . ."