Opinions of Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Columnist: Fosu, John

Asantehene Stalls Kumawu Chieftaincy Case

For how long will Kumawuman citizens sit on their lap with their palms folded in-between their legs? I will reiterate once more how certain unscrupulous personalities assuming to be tin gods are still playing God on Kumawuman. These persons take Kumawuman citizens for not only fools but also, as people unworthy of the provision, and the enjoyment of the benefits, of essential developments. Do you as citizens of Kumawuman irrespective of your current place of abode accept that? I think you do, or else, you would not sit down keeping silence while the Asantehene out of selfishness and callousness is denying you a chief. He is in collusion with his girlfriend, the Kumawuhemaa, to defraud you of your inalienable rights to better life and to having a legitimate, dynamic, and selfless chief who will develop your area for you.

The incompetence and corruptibility of the late Barima Asumadu Sakyi II and his sister, the sitting queen, coupled with her insolence, are too ingrained and fresh in the minds of the inhabitants of Kumawuman to be forgotten any soon. They were only interested in satisfying their parochial-minded quest for personal wealth at the expense of the people, hence, the propensity at which they misappropriated Kumawuman funds, and the disastrous state of disrepair they have left Kumawu, especially. What a shame? The queen is inextricably entrenched in the pursuance of such unhealthy acts of corruption which is detrimental to the wellbeing of Kumawuman and its people.

As once opined by an "Ankaase" topmost personality, "Does the Asantehene think Kumawu is his latrine where he comes to attend to nature's call as and when he feels like, after overfeeding himself in Kumasi?" He had by this statement sought to home in a point that Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, must not continue to tax the patience of the citizens of Kumawuman by underestimating their intelligence. He has been accorded all respect due him as the ceremonial Head of the loose Asante Union comprising five principal autonomous states and other satellite towns. He should at least learn to appreciate if not to reciprocate the respect so far accorded him by Kumawuman. Simply put, he is only a ceremonial head who has no right of exercise of absolute traditional powers over Kumawuman as far as their standing in the loose union goes. This is irrespective of any standing Constitutional clause(s). He is taking the leniency, respect and the slow-to-anger nature of the citizenry of Kumawuman to be their weakness. He asked for their paramount chieftaincy case pending before the High Court to be withdrawn and brought before him for arbitration. Little did Kumawuman citizens know that he was up to some tricks to fool them as he had already entered into some silly pact of some sort with his libidinal partner, the Kumawuhemaa? He had secretly and prior to pleading for the withdrawal of the case from the court, arranged to decide it in favour of his girlfriend. He never knew that God had planned otherwise. This explains why this dithering of his in compelling the Kumawuhemaa to respond, in counter or otherwise, to the oath of her illegitimacy as a queen so invoked on her, or, declaring the ruling on the Ananangya versus Wurukye case. He is cunningly waiting for Kumawuman citizens to go on rampage so that he can invoke some Constitutional powers to impose a regent them. By this, he hopes to ensure the queen is allowed to enthrone the candidate of her choice, as illegitimate and corrupt as she is. "Wa anyin a Kumawufo3 nso akye". He will surely live to regret this trickery of his!

It has been established in both my write-ups and the invocation of the "Asantehene's Great Oath" on the Kumawuhemaa that she with her Ankaase royals is illegitimate. The onus is upon her to prove us wrong by rebuttal and also, counteract the said oath. In the absence of that, her intransigent resistance is only like morning dew that disappears with the rising sun. She is a total disgrace to herself and her subjects. Today, one will see her going out with this man, and come tomorrow, she is dating another. She thinks to get those men to influence the chieftaincy dispute in her favour by such flirtations. She has got it wrong. It is only the Asantehene who is head and heels over that nonsense but it will as usual be for a while, and then disappears into the abyss of oblivion.

Kumawuman people are dying from preventable diseases all because of the thievery and the short-sightedness of their traditional leaders. The late Barima Asumadu Sakyi II and the queen had misappropriated the wealth of the area. The queen continues to do so because she still sees Kumawuman citizens as uncivilized fools who are devoid of any sense. She believes they fail to sleep on pillows; they are therefore without sense of foresight to perceive and feel the effects of her evilness. Kumawuman suffers from lack of potable water. Kumawu as the District capital has no toilets yet this shameless queen finds enough money to bribe some Ashanti paramount chiefs to tip the balance in her favour by adjudging her Ankaase royals as the sole bonafide owners of the Kumawu paramountcy. Whoever that Senkyire dishing out money to support the queen is, will wail come the D-Day. He will only be left to recoup his money by lying with the queen but not from any money taken from the coffers of Kumawuman. The free lands the queen has promised him from Kumawuman stool lands will not be forthcoming until the end of the world. He should please take note of this prophesy.

Why am I so disgusted at the behaviour of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II? He is the only Asantehene who has shown gross disrespect for custom. He does not respect the Asantehene's Great Oath a bit all for the sake of sexual gratification. Are there any elders in Asanteman who can predict or tell the repercussions of his untoward attitude to the oath on the Ashanti nation? He sided with the queen to introduce one Akua Wurukye into the case just to drag it on snail's pace. When is he going to pronounce judgement on the Ananangya versus Wurukye's case? Wurukye, the "Akokohwede" lady, claims the Kumawu paramount throne is hers and that she offered it to the Ankaase family. Now in her stupid final submission to the Asantehene challenging the fairness of his constituted panellists deliberating on the case, she states to have consulted the queen who agrees to accept she, Wurukye's family's presentation of traditional drinks to seeking to be offered the paramount throne. What a nutter this woman is? If the throne is hers as she initially alleged on oath as made known in my previous writings, why can't she order its restitution back to her family but rather submit herself to competition for it? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't take long to catch thieves with their pants down, so it is with Wurukye now. I have been alerted by one Owusu and another Aduana Frimpong all of Adomako Pim family to how Wurukye intends to kill me by consulting fetishism, Mallams and pastors if I should continue to demonise her. These people who also support Wurukye should get some life into their precarious way of reasoning. "Nothing ventured, nothing came" I would not reprimand her if she had not lied between her rotten teeth. Until she apologises to Kumawuman for failing them in her duty to the Kumawuman nation, she will never know peace. God will torment her until she dies.

Kumawuman citizens, please don't allow the wind of fate to blow you wherever and whenever it wants, bend it to suit your aspirations. Don't allow the Asantehene to fool you any longer all in pursuit of his selfish sexual gratifications and fantasies. When is he going to declare ruling on the Wurukye versus Ananangya case? When is he going to oblige the Kumawuhemaa to respond to the oath so invoked on her about her illegitimacy as a Kumawu paramount queen? It is nearly two years now since the said invocation of oath. Justice delayed is justice denied. How wise does the Asantehene think he is? He is only deceiving himself by living probably in a fool's paradise of his own. This can never happen in any of the Eastern Ghana towns where I come from. Kumawuman citizens, please strike when the iron is hot. And now is the time.

On a kinder note, some people do advise me to tone down my anger. Others also chastise me for being rude to established institutions and especially, the office of the Asantehene. Yes, I know two wrongs never make a right. Do I listen to God and act accordingly, or I have to act in appeasement of man who is but doing wrong? I am told by supposing well-wishers that my course of action is thwarting the chance of the Ananangyas from ascending to the paramount throne. Do I repeat myself by saying I am more interested in justice and the welfare of the people of Kumawuman than in any one particular family? If justice demands that the Ananangyas are the true royals, so be it.

Now that the "Akyeremah ma", Tweneboa Kodua Senior Secondary School, is celebrating their jubilee anniversary on 21st November 2009, I am sure the story of Barima Tweneboa Kodua will be told. This will confirm which family members are indeed the true royals. I wish my former school all the best.

Those who lay traps will be caught in their traps. A word to the Asantehene is sufficient.

John Fosu