The once powerful Ashanti Kingdom, today is in tatters, thanks to Asanteman Traditional Council, who through their recklessness, have exposed the nakedness of the Golden Stool, on which sat the Asantehene, Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu ll.
The Aura surrounding the Golden Stool and Ashanti Kingdom has been quenched, the myth, the invisibility of the Ashanti King, is today made public with secrets of Asanteman Traditional Council Chiefs prostrate publicly.
Where is Osei Tutu l, the founder of the great Ashanti Kingdom, where are the elders of the Oyoko Abusua, Abohyen Dynasty of Nana Twum and the Bretuo Dynasty of Osei Tutu, Opemsoo, who established the Ashanti Empire in 1701.
Where are the Yaa Asantewas, who fought the British Empire and established the Ashanti Kingdom as a non-territory of the British Empire? Where are these great chiefs of Ashanti, Prempeh, Opoku Ware Katakyie, Kweku Duah, just to mention a few of the greats.
The reign of these chiefs were the mystic years of the great Asanteman, when no son or daughter of Ashanti could disrespect the Golden Stool or utter derogatory words to the Ashanti King or denigrate the Ashanti King in public, the punishment was death.
And if any institution in Ghana today, would humiliate the Asantehene, it should not be the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the party formed and nurtured in Ashanti, the party that pride itself of having Ashanti as its stronghold and without Ashanti, could not win any elections in Ghana.
Today, in the Ghanaian political arena, the Asantehene has been stripped of any respect, any influence, and any prominence, thanks to Bernard Antwi Boasiako, a.k.a Chairman Wontumi, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP.
Chairman Wontumi is alleged to have denigrated the Ashanti King saying “I have built my own ‘Kingdom’, I have my own police and military and I will speak my mind to Otumfuo if I disagree on an issue with him. He is nobody” and was left off the hook with a word of caution “go and sin no more”.
Remember, Bernard Antwi Boasiako is not a true indigene of Ashanti, according to rumors, so how dare he speak in such a disparaging tone to the Ashanti King?
But would anyone blame Chairman Wontumi for displaying such arrogance and disrespect towards Nana Otumfo Osei Tutu ll, the Asantehene? No, because he has the backing of the NPP, which he is the Regional Chairman, the ruling NPP Government and the President, His Excellency Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo.
Consistently, I have said, President Akufo Addo want to belittle the dominance, prestige and influence of the Ashanti King and he has been working on this even before he became the President of the Republic and this time, he is hitting the Ashanti King where it hurt, using the Ashanti’s own political party, the NPP and a supposed Ashanti indigene.
Is it because the NPP is an Ashanti political party and Bernard Antwi Boasiako is seen as an Ashanti, even if not a pure native, that is why the Asanteman Traditional Council were compassionate with him and could not even reprimand him but took the blame for his narrow-mindedness and asked him, to go a free man.
Not long ago, we vividly remember the same Asanteman Traditional Council, asking His Excellency John Dramani Mahama to replace Hon. Kojo Bonsu, then Chief Executive Officer of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly because he, Kojo Bonsu had slighted the Asantehene, Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu ll and brought his office into disrepute, accusing him, Kojo Bonsu of insubordination and disrespecting them.
What was Kojo Bonsu’s crime? Kojo Bonsu’s crime was writing a letter to question the authority of Nana Agyenim Boateng, the Amoamanhene, appointed by Nana Otumfuo Osei Tutu ll to represent the Chiefs on a Committee that was to supervise the construction of the Kejetia Market.
Juxtapose the two issues and the two personalities. Was it that because Hon. Kojo Bonsu was an NDC, the Asanteman Chiefs had to stand their ground to get the President remove him from office as KMA Boss? Is Kojo Bonsu not an Ashanti and could also have been pardoned just as Bernard Antwi Boasisko, a supposed Ashanti, was pardoned and asked to go and sin no more?
Is the Kejetia Market, the reason for which the Asanteman Chiefs insisted on the removal of Kojo Bonsu, not serving the interest of Ashantis today?
Our elders say when a witch is in his or her spiritual witchcraft state, he or she does not recognize he or she is killing his or her own child, it is when he or she is in his or her human state, that he or she knows he or she has killed his or her own child.
This is exactly the behavior of the Asanteman Council Chiefs in the two scenarios, even if Kojo Bonsu erred, his action did not dent the image and reputation of the Asantehene and the Asanteman Council Chiefs as the words and body language of Antwi Boasiako has done to the Ashanti King and his Asanteman Chiefs.
Our elders again say, “if you play with your Dog, it licks your mouth”. The humiliation, the disrespect and the disgrace suffered by Asantehene and Asanteman, as a result of trying to please the ruling NPP Government and failing to admonish the NPP Regional Chairman, has been brought on the Ashanti Kingdom by the Chiefs themselves.
I am tempted to say the Ashantis have been ‘inward looking” but I would not say that because Kojo Bonsu is a pure bloody Ashanti and his only crime is belonging to the wrong side of the political pendulum, the NDC.
As for Bernard Antwi Boasiako, a.k.a Chairman Wontumi, the pasture is greener today but he should pray, when there is a change of Government, his fellow Ashantis will reopen this very case and define his real status in the Ashanti Kingdom.
Source – Jojo Bruce-Quansah
jojobrucequansah@gmail.com
info@ghananewsnow.co.uk
