The Dispatch

In a front-page lead story, the Dispatch reports the Presidential Staffer on Chieftaincy Affairs, Nana Akuoko Sarpong as describing the Mayor of Kumasi, Nana Akwasi Agyeman as "a gentleman who Has served so well, has been able to uplift the level of sanitation in Kumasi and who has worked tirelessly day in and day out". The paper says Nana Akuoko Sarpong was commenting on the selection process in which Nana Kwaku Dua emerged as the new Asantehene and speculations that an official government Delegation had allegedly pressurised the Asantehemaa, Nana Afua Kobi Serwaa Ampem II to nominate Nana Akwasi Agyeman, one of the seven candidates for the Golden Stool. The Presidential Staffer was responding to questions from the host of the JOY FM talk show, "Front Page", Kwaku Sakyi- Addo, last Friday. According to the Dispatch Nana Akuoko Sarpong admitted that the Kumasi Mayor is "a friend of the government, he is a member of government and if for any reason, members of the government were pushing informally about his occupation of the throne, he was as qualified as any other contestant". The paper says Nana Akuoko Sarpong responding directly to Sakyi-Addo's question as to whether the government tried to pressurise the Asantehemaa in favour of Akwasi Agyeman, said: "Not at all. People are reading too much into the visit to the Queenmother. The problem is...that, just after the death of Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, a high-powered government delegation was in Kumasi to console with the people of Ashanti. And the visit was just a post-funeral consolation. It was not meant to be arm-twisting anybody at all. I can hang on that".