By: Adofo, Rockson

....of Dr Yaw Sarfo as Kumawuhene Unleashes Police Brutalities on Kumawuman Citizens

For the sake of setting the records straight and to reveal the reasons behind certain illegal and brutal actions constantly being taken to suppress the citizens of Kumawuman, I have been compelled to come out publicly with the following information.

It is officially made clear to the public through the media and other fishy means that Dr Yaw Sarfo, the alleged Kumawuhene Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua, has been gazetted as Kumawu paramount chief hence he is the only and one Omanhene in the Kumawu traditional area whether or not the subjects do accept and recognise him as such.

From some conclusive investigations so far conducted into his gazetting, it turns out that he has committed the greatest fraud in the history of Ghana with regard to the gazetting of chief-elects as paramount chiefs. In order to conceal the fraud he has committed of which its public disclosure will surely lead to his destoolment, already as illegitimate occupant of the Kumawu Kodua Stool as he is, and probably his imprisonment, he is being aided by his accomplices, thus, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the queen of Kumawu, Nana Abenaa Serwaah Amponsah, the police and the military, Asanteman Council, and other members of government, through intimidations, harassments and assaults on Kumawuman citizens to cow them into accepting him without any objection.

From the Chieftaincy Declaration (DC) Forms 1A and 1B that must obligatorily be completely filled out by a chief-elect and submitted to the Regional House of Chiefs for further examination, together with the minutes of the Traditional Council meeting as per a requirement of the Chieftaincy Act 2008, Act 759, there are at least two things that must critically be scrutinized.

The acceptance, truthfulness and authentication of the information provided by a chief-elect on these two mentioned forms are prerequisite for gazetting a chief-elect as the paramount chief or sub-chief of the traditional area concerned.

There is a question on the form about whether or not there is a case pending in any court or anywhere against the chief-elect’s (the person filling in the form as the chief-elect) election as a chief-elect. The answer must be either YES or NO. When you answer NO, you will not be gazetted until whatever the litigation that is pending against you has been disposed of by the court and in your favour.

There is a space on the form for the Acting Paramount Chief of the traditional area concerned to sign his signature to authenticate the answers or witness the veracity of the answers and the form as filled out by the chief-elect. In all cases, the Acting Paramount Chief (Omanhene) on the demise of a paramount chief of a traditional area before a new one is elected is always the Kontrihene. In the absence of the Kontrihene, it should be the Akwamuhene.

In the case of Dr Yaw Sarfo who had been collusively imposed on Kumawu as their chief-elect going by the stool name Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua, there were cases pending against him both at the Judicial Committee of the Ashanti Regional House of Chiefs and the Appellate Court in Kumasi. Proofs of these are available and can be provided on request by Kumawuhene Barima Tweneboa V, Kumawu Aduanahene Nana Sarfo Agyekum II, Kumawu Akwamuhene Nana Kwasi Bafo II and Kumawu Nsumankwaahene Nana Okyere Darko.

Additionally, Kumawu Kontrihene was dead before the Chief-elect (Dr Yaw Sarfo) imposed on Kumawu filled out the forms. In the absence of the Kontrihene, the Kumawu Akwamuhene Nana Kwasi Bafo II should automatically step in but he was not the one who signed the DC Forms 1A and 1B for the Kumawu Chief-elect (Dr Yaw Sarfo) who had been given the stool name Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua.

The forms were signed by one of the Kumasi Divisional chiefs. These two acts; answering that there was, or were no court cases pending against him over his eligibility and the legitimacy of his election as Kumawuhene (Kumawu chief-elect) whereas there were, and also not having the Kumawu Kontrihene or the Kumawu Akwamuhene but the chief of another division to sign the document for him constitute fraud which is prosecutable and punishable by prison term. A case reference or precedents are the rulings against the paramount chiefs of Cape Coast and Banda in recent times.

It is to conceal this committed fraud that they always arrange the police and military support with the backing of some government Ministers to intimidate the legitimate royal to the stool who has been elected in line with Kumawu traditions and customs and supported by about 95% of the Kumawuman subjects and going by the stool name Barima Tweneboa Kodua V.

The about-to-retire Chief Justice, Mrs Theodora Georgina Wood, has also by her commission immensely assisted these acts of fraud committed by the alleged Kumawuhene Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua and his accomplices of whom Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II stands out conspicuously.

She sent letters to the Mampong High Court which had decided a case in favour of Kumawu Akwamuhene Nana Kwasi Bafo II, Kumawu Aduanahene Nana Sarfo Agyekum Nyanor II, Kumawu Nsumankwaahene Nana Okyere Darko and the late Kumawu Akyempemhene Nana Okyere Krapa II, against their unconventional destoolment by “Kumawuhene” Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua on the orders of Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

Following the letters she sent, although the case had been ruled in favour of the above-named sub-chiefs, they were not given the court orders they had sought from the court. The ongoing proceedings of mandamus intended to oblige the registrars of the Kumawu Traditional Council, the Ashanti Regional House of Chiefs and “Kumawuhene” Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua to produce true certified copies of the DC Forms 1A and 1B that he filled out consequent upon which he was gazetted as the paramount chief of Kumawu, were adjourned sine die. She further sent letters to the court ordering for the transfer of the case from Mampong High Court to a named High Court in Kumasi with a name of a particular judge mentioned as the one going to handle the case thereon.

She again transferred the Mampong High Court judge who was a man of integrity, a professional and had vowed to tell nothing but the truth, to Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region of Ghana. This is the role our first ever female Chief Justice in the annals of Ghana Judiciary and politics played. Her conscience and the public will judge her whether her acts were malicious or not.

Nana Otuo Serebour II, the paramount chief of Asante-Juaben, caused the enstoolment of a royal by name Kwasi Prempeh as the paramount chief of Juaso in the Asante-Akyem only to have him destooled years later by Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and the Asanteman Council on the grounds that the Kontrihene and the Akwamuhene of Juaso were not present during the swearing in of that royal as the chief-elect of Juaso. The Kontrihene and the Akwamuhene of Juaso might not have agreed with Juabenhene’s choice hence their decision to stay away from Mr Kwasi Prempeh’s enthronement as the paramount chief-elect of the Juaso traditional area. Asantehene said, without the presence of those two principal sub-chiefs, the enthronement of the person chosen by Juabenhene could not be legitimate by tradition hence ordering for his destoolment which was immediately carried out.

Juaso unlike Kumawu, has a history which permits Asantehene to some extent to do what he did, interfere in their chieftaincy issues.

The public must note that it is not only that Asantehene has no royal prerogative to nominate, select or elect any royal or person as Kumawuhene let alone, imposing one on us as he did on 24 February 2014 at his Kumasi Manhyia Palace as could be seen by the YouTube video link below but also, Kumawu Kontrihene and Akwamuhene were not present at the dodgy swearing in of Dr Yaw Sarfo as Kumawuhene-elect both at the Kumawu Palace or at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi. It is the Kontrihene and/or Akwamuhene who leads or takes any paramount-chief-elect to be shown to the other paramount chiefs at Manhyia Palace as their new colleague and the chief of the particular traditional division he comes from, to swear an oath of allegiance to the Golden Stool hence, the occupant of the Golden Stool.



From the letter written by the Kumawu Traditional Council to then Ashanti Regional Police Commander (DCOP) Nathan Kofi Boakye of which a true copy has been reproduced in the web link below, Asantehene indeed ordered the destoolment of the Kumawu sub-chiefs named above without having that traditional powers hence a breach of the Ghana constitution and the human rights of the individuals affected.

https://www.modernghana.com/news/589565/1/kumawuhene-sends-a-manipulative-letter-to-police-c.html

Still, reading the contents of a publication I placed out on the Ghana internet news portals via the underlying web link, one can ascertain for themselves how far Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II went to arrogate to himself royal prerogatives he has absolutely no right to with regard to the Kumawu chieftaincy dispute hence breaching not only the Akan and Kumawu traditions and customs but also, certain relevant constitutional clauses in the Ghana 1992 Constitution.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/RE-Asantehene-is-the-Overlord-of-Asanteman-338032

The following web links and hundred others will give every public reader an informed opinion about how some well-placed persons in Ghana are condoning and conniving to intimidate, harass, victimise and deny some innocent people their human rights. They are using the police and other security agents to suppress and oppress the people’s traditionally-elected and supported paramount chief-elect Barima Tweneboa Kodua V and his sub-chiefs and supporters.





http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Ashanti-Effiduase-Divisional-Police-Commander-must-be-investigated-511710

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Is-the-Chief-Justice-stalling-adjudication-of-the-Kumawu-chieftaincy-dispute-423354

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Is-Asantehene-Indeed-Above-the-Law-333545

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Open-Letter-to-Human-Rights-Court-Justice-Paul-K-Richardson-332185

This publication will be conveyed to the attention of the Amnesty International, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. I shall not sit down with my arms folded around the chest while all these abuses of power are perpetrated ad perpetuated against innocent people in Ghana in what is a democracy of probably Ghanaian standard and their understanding. No way!!

Rockson Adofo