In all my life, I have met the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu ll just once, in London, in the United Kingdom in 2013. I saw he is human and has his faults but also saw in him a calm rational person with a lot of tolerance.
You don’t talk about Kings at length especially, one with the stature and status of the Asantehene or you are summoned to the Palace to answer a harmless statement you have made naively but culturally offensive to the Manhyia Palace.
I have been a keen observer of the Ashanti King, Otumfuo Osei Tutu ll, and his relationship with various administrations in Ghana and have also been monitoring the “goings on” since the NPP assumed office with Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo as the President.
I have sometimes marveled at the Asantehene’s relationship with the President and asked myself if they were friends and if Akufo Addo was his Solicitor but that doubt was cleared when I heard from the horse’s mouth that Akufo Addo was his Solicitor.
In that case, shouldn’t the relationship between the King and the President be cordial instead of what it looks like from a distance, very acrimonious?
It is on record, that soon after the President got the nod in 2007/8 to lead the New Patriotic Party (NPP), he launched the book “Okyeman Kingdom” which sought to elevate the Okyehene stool to the status of a Kingdom, even though under the 1992 constitution of Ghana, there is nothing like Kingdom or King.
Over the years, I have followed the President, Akufo Addo keenly, and know all his life, he had three things very dear to him and wanted to achieve them at all cost. The first was to become the President. He had always believed Ghanaians were not fair to his “old man” by not giving him the respect and the proper designation as PRESIDENT but as HONOURARY PRESIDENT.
His second wish is the RESTITUTION of his uncle, the late Joseph Boakye Danquah, whom he believed deserved better after all his efforts at helping the country attain independence from the British, and third, to conclude his lifetime ambition, the elevation of the Akyem state to a Kingdom.
He has almost achieved all this, he is now the President of the Republic of Ghana, taking the rightful place he thought his father should have been, and recently under his auspices, the Okyeman gave his uncle, the late J. B. Danquah, a befitting burial and a well-deserved funeral.
What he is left with, is the elevation of Okyeman to a Kingdom status which unfortunately, the 1992 constitution of Ghana does not permit because the supreme laws have no place for the creation of a Kingdom or installation of a King in Ghana.
If that is the position of Ghanaians under the constitution, then why the Ashanti Kingdom and Ashanti King?
All these years, since Ghana attained independence, no one has kicked against the Ashanti King or the Ashanti Kingdom. I guess as a people, we have accepted the historical Ashanti Kingdom as it exists today and believe the historical olden day Tribal wars, the conquering and annexation of lands by the Ashantis, and that has gotten us here. In modern-day Ghana, no one bothers about Kings and Kingdoms but a section of Ghanaians have on their own accord accepted to be subjects of the Ashanti Kingdom and have Otumfuo Osei Tutu ll, as their King, with no one challenging his authority over those people.
Under the country’s constitution, the highest any traditional ruler can rise is to Paramountcy (I am not a Lawyer, and stand to be corrected if I am wrong), and was unexpected when the Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Dr. Agyemang Badu ll, known in private life as Justice Daniel Mensah and some traditional rulers, started agitating against the status of the Asantehene at the National House of Chiefs.
It is every Ghanaian’s right to ask why these agitations after all these years and why hasn’t the Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs and the National House of Chiefs reacted to the actions of these traditional rulers, questioning the status of the Asantehene at the National House of Chiefs.
In the face of all the agitations, challenging his authority and status as the Ashanti King, and as I stated in my open paragraph, Otumfuo Osei Tutu ll is a calm, very rational person with a lot of tolerance and has only reacted when necessary, especially in areas about history.
Speculations have started flying around with accusing fingers pointing at the Presidency, hence my question, was the President a friend and Asantehene’s Solicitor, as declared by the Otumfuo himself and if that is true, isn’t his silence over what seems to be a strained relation with the President not too deafening?
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is a Manhyia Palace-sponsored political party known during its formative years as the National Liberation Movement (NLM) or “Matse Meho” in the local Twi language and was led by the late Baffour Osei Akoto, the Ashanti King’s linguist.
This is the political party that won the President, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo the Presidency of Ghana in 2016 because of the party’s strength in terms of population in the country and popularity among Ashantis.
The party sees the Ashanti Region as its stronghold because the people love the party and will vote for it wherever they are in the country because they see the NPP as their own.
In recent times, the relationship between the Jubilee House, the seat of Government, and the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional Capital, doesn’t seem cordial because even though the ruling party, the NPP, still sees the Ashanti Region as its stronghold during elections, it has denied the region and its people of development since winning elections in 2016.
Of late, the actions of some leading members of the ruling party, its national and regional leaders, have shown signs of gross disrespect to the Ashanti King, Otumfuo Osei Tutu ll, and his Asanteman Council by publicly denigrating them.
As if that was not enough, the President in the selection of his successor, has hit the Ashanti people where it hurts most with the selection of his Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as the leader and Presidential candidate of the party, something considered a taboo by founders of the NPP.
Customarily known as the Busia Danquah Dombo Tradition, the party has a constitution that has the Leader and Presidential candidate of the party, permanently reserved for Akans, whilst the Vice Presidency slot is also reserved for Northerners but that tradition is broken this year with the selection of a Northern as the leader of the party.
For some time now, the President’s actions have been seen by many party supporters as destructive to the NPP and endangering the trust and love Ashantis have for the party. This is a party that has its stronghold in Ashanti, going contrary to the wishes and aspirations of the party’s Founders and Council of Elders.
Examples of treacherous moves in the Ashanti Region abound of the President and party Executives, seen by many as hurting the party especially, at this time when the country would be heading for the polls in December.
Manoeuvrings and manipulations of party delegates got Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia elected as leader and Presidential candidate of the NPP for the December polls.
The orchestrations, the wrangling, and the success in forcing Alan Kyeremanteng to resign from the party, one of the leading Ashanti figures most party supporters in the Region were expecting to win the leadership race, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, reluctantly taking part in the second round of the primaries to a humiliating defeat.
Through manipulations, the majority of the party’s Members of Parliament from the Ashanti Region, seen as vocal and critical of the government and the Presidency, lost the primaries and the opportunity to contest the December polls, silencing them for the next nine months the NPP would be in office.
Honourable Osei Kyie Mensah Bonsu, former majority leader in Parliament, was last week forced out of his position and had to reluctantly resign, making Hon. Afenyo Markin, his deputy and a Ewe, Effutu man, taking his place as the majority leader.
Everything the Ashantis hold dear in the party has been taken away from them, prominent Ashantis holding positions in the party, have either been defeated in internal party elections or have been side-lined.
Another thing the Ashantis hold dear and would not compromise on is their King and his respect, which the NPP has thrown to the dogs, by empowering a non-Ashanti, Antwi Boasiko (Chairman Wontumi) to insult and humiliate.
Observers, who don’t understand where the current Executive of the NPP is heading with their head-on collision with Ashanti Chiefs and their King, are asking, is the destruction of the NPP, the intention of the President?
Some believe Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo is deliberately ushering the NPP into opposition just as former President John Agyakum Kufuor did at the end of his Presidency, handing over to the NDC.
But Akufo Addo has gotten many Ghanaians confused because of his avowed stand not to hand over to the NDC’s John Dramani Mahama, so with all his manipulations and destructive moves in Ashanti, which is likely to cost the NPP this year’s elections, who is he going to hand over to, definitely not a defeated NPP and its flag bearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. END
Source – Jojo Bruce-Quansah
jojobrucequansah@gmail.com
info@ghananewsnow.co.uk
