ABSTRACT
Ashanti chiefship is based on the lineage system. The account of Wenchi confirms the main features of Ashanti constitutional practice presented in Rattray's accounts of several of the Ashanti Divisions. For political purposes the matrilineal bond is the more significant. Kingdoms broke up, lineages dispersed, some tribes expanded, others diminished owing to wars and migrations. Where the immigrants formed a separate village, as in the case of Gyansoso or Awisa, their original leader became the Odekuro, responsible to the elder under whom the Wenchihene Gyane placed him. Both in the town of Wenchi, and in the villages, lineage ties were the basis of communal life. In every village the commoners had an association of their own. The Wenchihene and his elders had charge of all the internal affairs of Wenchi; but as the Wenchi Division was within the Ashanti Union, the Chief of Wenchi incurred certain obligations to the Asantehene.
