Asantehene petitions government over conduct of Minister

Kumasi, Mar 16, GNA - The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has poured scorn on the conduct and posturing of the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister and the Regional Police Command in the recent bloody clashes at Tuobodom, accusing them of open bias He said their actions and seeming disinterest in bringing to justice those behind the abduction and shabby treatment of the Omanhene of Tuobodom gave cause for concern.

He therefore called on the government to act with urgency to find the offenders and punish them in the interest of peace. Otumfuo Osei Tutu was addressing a meeting of the Asanteman at his Manhyia Palace in Kumasi on Monday.

This was after the Omanhene of Tuobodom, Nana Asare Baffour II, had narrated the inhuman treatment he and some of his elders went through when they were abducted and sent to the palace of the Techiman Paramount Chief. News about his abduction sparked off clashes at Tuobodom that resulted in the death of three people and injury to four others including a policeman. Otumfuo Osei Tutu said Nana Asare Baffour's seizure and subsequent dehumanizing treatment was an assault on the chieftaincy institution. He said it was dangerous for anybody to assume that he or she could act with impunity and get away with it, warning that the matter if not carefully handled could trigger unfortunate reactions.

"We are not living in the state of nature and if the Techimanhene is indeed convinced that under constitutional and customary law, he has a good case, the right and lawful thing to do is to go to the court." He called on all peace loving people in the country to condemn acts of criminality.

Nana Asare Baffour told the paramount chiefs and queens, who were in black, that they were severely beaten and ordered to kneel down and swear allegiance to the Techimanhene but they refused. The meeting decided on the performance of customary rites with the slaughtering of a number of sheep to symbolize the anger of the Asante Kingdom.