The National Women’s Organiser of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Hanna Louisa Bisiw-Kotei, has disclosed that it was through politics that she discovered her roots as a descendant of a slave.
She says she was once referred to by someone as a hawker in one of her campaign trails to ridicule her background.
However, Dr. Bisiw-Kotei noted that she is not ashamed of her past, disclosing that it was even after she entered into politics that she realised she was the fifth generation of a slave.
Speaking with Yaa Titi Okrah on Onua FM’s ‘Women In Politics’ programme, a special Friday segment on the Pae Mu Ka
She asserts the act of her great great grandfather getting married to a slave she purchased to work on her cocoa farm at the time, was an honour to the woman.
“I was once told I used to sell things on the roadside and I was like that’s not an issue, I’m not shy of my background but I didn’t even know I was a descendant of a slave until I entered into politics. I had to research my background and I was told my great grandmother was bought from Dafia by her husband together with some other men to come and work on a cocoa farm.
“The man was wealthy and when he brought them, he saw she was too pretty and decided to marry her in addition to his wives. I also realised my mother’s father’s roots are from Esaso in Kumasi, the hometown of President Kufuor. And I also announced on my campaign platform that I am a descendant of a slave, the fifth generation. So if someone purchased a slave and married her afterwards, it was an honour to the woman,” she explained.
