Zimmermann (1858) glosses akwašoŋ as an assembly of the whole tribe or nation. Field (1940) describes the akwashɔŋtsɛ, head of the akwashɔŋ, as supreme military commander responsible for military organisation and policy in Tema, later also for allocating land and settling boundary disputes, and records that in pre-colonial times he chaired the supreme town court for military and secular affairs.
Military matters were brought before the akwashong.