"Kumasi set for big funeral" is the banner headline of this edition of the statesman. The report has it that the night of Sunday March 21, 1999 is the start of an elaborate traditional funeral when the Krobea Asante Kotokohene, Otumfuo Opoku Ware II is laid in state at the Manhyia Palace. Expectations are that a record crowd of mourners from accross the world will attend the four day programme. Among the notable individuals and institutions which have been formally invited and who may attend or be represented are the English Monarch, Queen Elisabeth II, the Zulu chief of South Africa, the Mossi King in Burkina Faso, all the paramontcies in Ghana and other monarchs worldwide. According to the report, Thursday March 25 will be the climax of the funeral. There will be a memorial service at St. Cyprian's Anglican Church which hosted a similar service for the former Asantehene the late, Nana Sir Osei Agyeman Prempeh II on June 4, 1970. The church service which will also witness ablend of Christianity and tradition, is also expected to be significant for its blend of the ancient and modern when the casket containing the mortal remains of the late Otumfuo draped in the Ghana flag will be conveyed by a gun-carrier to the Bantama Mausoleum by a detachment of the Ghana Armed Forces. There newspaper states that at Bantama where a wreath-laying ceremony will take place with a 21 gun-salute as last tribute to the king of Asante who ruled and made a positive impact on Ghana for 29 years. From Bantama the casket will be handed over to the traditional rulers to perform the traditional rites. Meanwhile the ban on all funerals in Asante in honour of the departed Asantehene is expected to be lifted on April 8 when the entire funeral would have been finally concluded. GRi