Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II
This publication is principally about lampooning Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. Anyone who is indeed conversant with the Ashanti history, dating from the restoration of the Asante Confederacy will agree with me that Asantehene is not the Overlord of Asanteman. He is the chief of Kumasi and plays a ceremonial role when himself and his colleague-Asanteman paramount chiefs (Amanhene) do meet at the Kumasi Manhyia Palace for whatever reason. I have evidential documents attesting to my assertion.
Firstly, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II constantly underrates the intelligence of the subjects of Asanteman through tactical bullying. He wants them to see and accept him as the Overlord of Asanteman with unrestricted powers to do what he wants when he wants; similarly as pertained in the era in Asante history before the capture and exile of Asantehene Nana Agyemang Prempeh I in 1896 to Sierra Leone and finally to the Seychelles Island. The British Colonial masters curtailed the powers of Asantehene when Nana Agyemang Prempeh I was returned to Gold Coast and taken to Kumasi in 1924.
Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, smarter as he thinks and taking everyone else for a fool, imposed his enfeebled octogenarian sister on Asanteman as the successor queen to his demised mother Nana Ampem Afua Kobi. The age of his sister and her health at the time of ascending to the queen’s throne made her a handicap in the discharge of her duties as Asantehemaa. Was her selection and imposition on Asanteman as Asantehemaa not an insult to the intelligence of Asanteman people? Was she not already a walking dead? I nearly revealed an information passed on to me by a reliable source in one of my articles published many months ago but at a second thought, I stopped. However, let Asantehene take note of this Akan proverb, "When your mother is dead and you claim she is asleep, she will wake up for all to see". "Wake up" in the proverb is ironically implied.
Before Kumawuhene Barima Tweneboa Kodua I, the originator of the Kumawu Kodua Stool, offered himself as a sacrificial lamb to save then Asante Confederacy from conquer in their imminent war with then most fearful and powerful King Nana Ntim Gyakari of Denkyira, he made some conditional requests all of which were granted by the chiefs present including Okomfo Anokye, the acclaimed powerful fetish priest.
Among the requests were;
None of his royals, referring to the totality of Kumawuman subjects, was to be slaughtered, thus, no cutlass should touch any of them. This was probably upon the understanding that when Asante paramount chiefs died, they killed people and removed their head to be buried with the dead chief. He did not want this to happen to any Kumawuman subject.
2. No Asantehene or chief should encroach upon Kumawu stool lands. With this, he meant that none of the chiefs within the Confederacy has the right to seize any part of Kumawu stool lands as theirs under any circumstance.
3. No Asantehene should mobilize any of the States or Divisions within the Confederacy to attack Kumawu State/Division. ? His request number 3 was later to become the unfortunate fate of Juaben State under Juabenhene Nana Kwasi Boateng. Asantehene Nana Osei-Yaw Akoto mobilized the Confederacy forces against the Juaben State. This led to Juabenhene Nana Kwasi Boateng and some of his royals and subjects escaping to the Eastern region to form what has since become the New Juaben, Effiduase and Oyoko traditional areas in the Eastern region.
All the above enumerated requests were agreed before he offered himself as stated above. He said, should any of the terms of the agreement be breached, the Asante Confederacy must collapse. However, what are we experiencing today under Asantehene Osei Tutu II? He has cunningly leased hundreds of thousands of hectares of Kumawu Stool lands to some foreign person and company as his. Has he not breached term of agreement number 2? Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II encountering opposition to his involvement in the Kumawu chieftaincy dispute for his selfish ends, has made a number of futile attempts to use government machinery to exterminate a popular member of the true royal family (Ananangya) of Kumawu enstooled as Kumawuhene going by the name Barima Tweneboa Kodua V. He, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, sees the enstoolment of the Ananangya royal as undermining his authority since he, Otumfuo, has imposed a puppet going by the stool name Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua, and in private life as Dr Yaw Sarfo, as the paramount chief of Kumawu Traditional Area. With Dr Yaw Sarfo, Otumfuo can sell the whole of Kumawuman and the subjects therein to squander the money alone, without anyone able to question him. Is he not trying to kill a royal or subject of Kumawuman, therefore, causing infraction of agreement number 1? Is tasking the military and the police in Ashanti region through inducements and threats to proceed to Kumawu on a number of occasions to terrorise and shoot at the people not in breach of agreement number 3?
Who is now collapsing Asanteman, formerly the Asante Confederacy, considering all the above listed infractions? Let Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, understand that it is not only God Almighty who is angry with his crazy, selfish and myopic attitudes but also, our forebear Barima Tweneboa Kodua I, and the chiefs with whom he sat down to enter into the said agreements. The departed souls of Kumawuman are also annoyed, I should think. If he does not take care, God especially, and the departed souls of Kumawuman, will speed up his death instead of letting his current terminal cancer or illness end his life. That will be the price to be paid by him, as obstinate, cruel and insatiably greedy as he is. Is it not said, "Obstinacy is the cause of the horns of the hornbill"?
Going forward, he nearly cost His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo his national and international credibility and integrity. The President acted fast to avert the calamity that would have been his portion had Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II succeeded using military and police personnel to assassinate Kumawuhene Barima Tweneboa Kodua V for all his stupid reasons. It is not Asantehene who appoints a royal-candidate to become Kumawuhene for the Kumawuman subjects. Do the Asanteman chiefs not know this simple history? Otumfuo Osei Tutu II thinks his dubious gazetting of Dr Yaw Sarfo as Kumawuhene validates Dr Yaw Sarfo as the only legitimate Kumawuhene hence the choice of the subjects does not count. Subsequently, plotting to assassinate the people’s preferred royal and choice using the government machinery or contract killers. His plots had been conveyed to the attention of the President through online Ghana news portal and other social media. Again, some international bodies had been informed of his assassination plot against Kumawuhene Barima Tweneboa Kodua V. Therefore, if the President in his wisdom, with his heart touched by God, had not turned the supposed assassination brigade into protection and escort squad, but had allowed Otumfuo Osei Tutu II to have his murderous way, the President will today be suffering from international isolation and condemnation.
It is not anyone that you can kill like a housefly and go scot free. Some killings do have regrettable consequences. "On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb Yugoslav nationalist, assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, leading to a diplomatic crisis" Simply put, this was a key element in the start of the First World War which lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918, causing the deaths of 50 million to 100 million military personnel and civilians globally. The Second World War was started by a freak German demagogue or nationalist called Adolf Hitler. It lasted from 1939 to 1945 and millions of people died.
As I write, a Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi Arabian monarchy, writing for the Washington Post, has secretly been murdered and allegedly dismembered. This sad fate of his occurred when he went to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul (Turkey) to collect his divorce certificate some days ago. Now, Saudi Arabia is suffering a backlash. Many major international companies are cancelling contracts with them or have threatened to pull out of the country. The Saudi monarchy and country are being subjected to international condemnation and isolation. If they knew the death of Jamal Khashoggi would cause them that level of international condemnation and isolation, do you think they would kill him? Surely, those individuals at the Consulate that killed him will also be tried and killed since the government is claiming they did so without official government clearance.
The above instances are simply to home in the message that it is not anyone that you can kill with impunity. Again, it takes just a single idiot to bring about war or sufferance of some sort to many. This is exactly what Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II was about to do. However, the wise President never fell for his trickery.
The level of military cum police security mounted in Kumawu and Bodomase on Saturday, 13 October 2018, during the funeral of the mother of Barima Tweneboa Kodua V was not to assassinate him as wished by Asantehene but rather to protect him. The presence of the security personnel frightened off some people from attending the funeral, but as you cannot eat your cake and have it, it did achieve its objective of protecting Barima Tweneboa Kodua V contrary as planned by Asantehene.
I blamed the President for being that higher person above issuing order to the military and police to be fully at the beck and call of Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, in my publication in which some international bodies were copied. Now that the plan of Asantehene was successfully rendered abortive, I should equally give praise and thanks to the President.
Finally, let Asantehene and his ilk of malevolent people understand that the hand of God is upon Barima Tweneboa Kodua V. He can go anywhere in the world to find it out. If it were not so, his numerous spiritual and physical attempts to get him dead would have succeeded. Asantehene, Dr Yaw Sarfo and Kumawuhemaa Nana Abenaa Amponsah, must listen to this song by Daddy Lumba titled, "Merensei da" as in the YouTube link below. Should they get the message in the song very well, they will cease all their diabolical plots against Barima Tweneboa Kodua V.