Part-Time Monarch, Full-Time Auto Mechanic

                                                   All photos by Mirka Laura Severa

Meet King Bansah: Part-Time Monarch, Full-Time Auto Mechanic

By Mirka Laura Severa November 3, 2015

This story appears in the November Issue of VICE.

 
Topics: King Bansah, Ghana, Ewe people, Hohoe, Gbi Traditional Area, photography, Mirka Laura Severa, king, royalty, car mechanics, v22n11



This story appears in the November Issue of VICE.

K ing Bansah, or Togbe Ngoryifia Céphas Kosi Bansah, rules the Gbi Traditional Area of Hohoe, Ghana. 

His kingdom consists of roughly 200,000 subjects, but as superior and spiritual chief of the Ewe people, he also feels responsible for 2 million in Togo.

He doesn't live in Ghana or Togo, however. His home is in Ludwigshafen, Germany, where he works as a car mechanic in his own shop.

In 1970, his grandfather, then king of Hohoe, sent him to Germany to train as a mechanic. When Bansah finished his studies, he decided to stay. He opened his shop and lived a quiet and happy life until, one day in 1987, a fax from Ghana changed things forever.

His grandfather had died, and Bansah's father and eldest brother were deemed unfit to rule because they were left-handed, which the Ewe people considered to be "unclean." Bansah was tapped as his grandfather's successor. 

He accepted and made it his goal in life to support the well-being and development of his people, while still working from nine to five in his garage. This is why the monarch rules his people via phone and email.

King Bansah returns to Ghana several times a year, often accompanied by his German wife, Gabriele, to devote his full attention to the issues of his people. The country has been a democracy since 1992, but its traditional kings remain important mediators and caretakers. 

King Bansah is building schools, bridges, and wells, and he donates water pumps and vehicles. 

To raise aid money he performs as a singer, appearing on national TV shows and at public events in Germany.  Although he never drinks alcohol himself, he sells his own beer, called Akosombo,  to fund his aid projects.


Link: http://www.vice.com/magazine/22/11