The Times says members of the Asona Royal Family of Kyebi, seat of the Akyem Abuakwa paramountcy, at the weekend slaughtered a sheep at the ?Atoase? shrine in front of the Ofori Panin Fie, to announce the destoolment of Abusuapanin Bafour Kwabena Akowuah.

Mr William Kwadwo Asante, a spokesman of the family is reported as saying the head was being removed because "he is an embarrassment to the family". According to Mr Asante, an injunction by one of the contestants restraining the family from nominating a successor to the late Okyehene, Osagyefuo Kuntunkununku II, is an embarrassment. In Bafour Akowuah?s place, Mr Kwadwo Asante, a technical officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board at Kade in the Eastern Region, was installed Abusuapanin.

The paper says the spokesman explained that while the family had not sat down conclusively to agree on a particular candidate, Bafour Akowuah was said to have mentioned the name of one of the contestants to the king-makers and prominent citizens of Okyeman.