SALTPOND – Mfantse HIGHLIGHTS: 1. FIRST tarred road in Ghana - Saltpond 2. UGCC headquarters - Saltpond 3. Hammond Hall, the grounds on which Dr. Kwame Nkrumah stood to declare the fight for independence 4. The residence of the first president of Ghana(Canaan Lodge)
5. The first port of Ghana - Saltpond 6. The tomb of Professor Allotey - Saltpond Historically, Saltpond is an Nkusukum sub-Fante ethnic group. They includes towns such as Kuntu, Anokyir Biriwa, Akatakyiwa, Mpesedadze, Yamoransa and others.
Saltpond's Fante name is Akyenfo. On their signboard it is now mistakenly spelt "Akyemfo." There is truth in both spellings. The original Akyenfo (Saltpond) town developed from Nkusukum settlement known as Anakyir and the dead town called Amoku.
The early European records identify Anokyir or Anakyir as Anashen. In the 1700, the European activity there saw massive movement of Gold Coasters to the area. One of the major ethnic group to enter Anakyir leading to it's expansion were, surprisingly, Akyem people for trading.
The great Pan Africanist, Chief Kofi Sam, who used his money and cash to repatriate some African Americans to Gold Coast in line with Marcus Garvey's request, is an Akyem indigene, but prefers to be called a Fante from Saltpond.
Thus the overwhelming presence of Akyem people in the area made some historians to conjecture that the original name of Saltpond was Akyemfo, meaning Akyem people in Fante language. But, the name itself is Akyenfo. The chiefs of Saltpond have used Akyen and Baah names.
In Fante language, Akyen means "town", "cottage" or "hamlet." It is believed that the cottages that developed out of the area came together to form Akyenfo. This could be true in the face of various independent cottages which make up Saltpond.
It is also averred that there was salt (nkyen) pond there where salt was mined. Thus the name Akyenfo, came from nkyenfo, people who mined salt. This was also one of the reasons why the Denkyira and Akyems moved to live among the Fantes there.
In Saltpond, there is Upper Town area called Ekwaadaa division, and the Lower Town division, Nankesidu. Inside there in that town is the great Political Mecca of Ghana, a suburb called Prabiw, where Professor Paul Archibald Vianey Ansah hailed from, and through his writings made
it popular in his Ghanaian Chronicle column. Two political parties, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) and Convention People's Party (CPP) were all founded in Saltpond.
People from this town are fearless and in the past, they have no regard for the Police. The colonial government's attempts to build Police Station there suffered major setbacks. They continued to resist the building of Police Station by breaking it down several times.
As a result they proudly boast, "me fi Akyenfo, ye nsuro polis" (l am from Saltpond, we don't fear police). Saltpond like all other Fante towns also have their national(town) anthem. It goes like:
" Akyenfo brefi Akyenfo, Wo da mpoano so wonko po No ntsetsew nkube nko Kormantse Nkegye nkamfoa mbedzi."