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Opinions of Monday, 7 September 2009

Columnist: Fosu, John

The Consequences of Traditional rulers playing God - Kumawuman

Are there really any concerned and intelligent people in Kumawuman, an inquisitive Ghanaian who is closely keeping track of the Kumawu chieftaincy affairs enquires? "I don't mean to demean anyone by way of posing this question", he intones. I am simply questioning out of curiosity and also in an attempt to probe deeper into certain baffling issues. My understanding tells me Kumawuman citizens are being taken for imbeciles by certain powers that be. The foremost among such alluded powers is the sitting paramount queen of Kumawuman. The names of the others will be interspersed as we proceed along. Kumawuman has been left without a paramount chief since the death of Barimah Asumadu Sakyi II for over two years now. Kumawuman, especially Kumawu, has remained disadvantaged since the enthronement of Barima Asumadu Sakyi II, and it continues to be even after his death. Why, one may ask? Kumawu could well be jinxed by having Ankaase royals as chiefs and queens, the inquirer may rightly be persuaded to conclude.

The writer is inclined to side with the inquisitor. It is heard there exists a voluntary grouping or a Committee of Kumawuman Eminent Citizens. The writer is not interested in knowing the criteria for being elected into that Association of Kumawuman Prominent Citizens. However, for documentary purposes, does one earn that status of prominence by way of ones higher educational qualification, material and financial wealth, or by simply being a philanthropic? Anyway, I wish the supposed committee well provided their undertakings will reflect the urgent needs of Kumawuman. I will further task this committee if it does truly exist to look into ways of getting a new paramount chief installed as quickly as possible. The chieftaincy issue bordering on who becomes the next paramount chief has been lingering on for far too long. It is way out of time. A successor chief should have been in place long ago but for the greediness, partiality, callousness, intellectual short-sightedness and non-chalance of certain powers that be, who are playing God, Kumawuman is left without a requisite leader. Not having a paramount chief in place is not auguring well for the inhabitants of Kumawuman. It is militating against the infrastructural development of their area. This is detrimental to their expectation. Just imagine a rudderless boat, and one clearly understands the point I am trying to home in.

"Acts 12:21 On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. The people kept shouting, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man!"Acts 12:23 And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died". This is a stern warning to all those who by their assumed traditional superiority may think themselves to having the license to play God in the Kumawu chieftaincy affairs. It has been revealed somewhere in my previous write-ups that God has an interest in the Kumawuman affairs. He has already designated someone after His own heart from the Ananangya royal family to be crowned the next paramount chief. He will therefore not compromise His stance but rather punish anyone seeking to prove Him a liar with death. This is a food for thought for Otumfuo Osei Tutu II & Co. For how long will it take him to settle the Kumawuman chieftaincy dispute if he had not a prejudicial inclination? The answer lies in calling the queen to counter the "Asantehene's Great Oath" so invoked on her. If she does, the case proceeds to the next stage of public narration of each contesting family's royalty history. If she fails, then it goes to conclude she is not the genuine royal she claims to be. Is this hard for Otumfuo to do? I am sure no idiot is going to tell me it is not as easy as I see it from my opaque pair of glasses. It is that simple unless one chooses to make it complex as it appears to be. Furthermore, the story of Ananias and Sapphira, the two lying couple as at Acts of the Apostles 5:1-10, should be sufficient warning to accomplices like Wurukye. And to those chiefs who think tomorrow will never come and so boastfully commit crime with impunity, taking bribes to twist the Kumawuman case you are warned. Read Luke 12:19; And I will say to myself, "You have plenty of good things........" The soul that sins shall die!

The pretentious iron-lady Tyson should note that it only takes a hacksaw blade to cut through an iron. The last time I checked she was partying in Kumawu and had defrauded a naive royal contestant of cartons and crates of soft and alcoholic drinks. Yaw Sarpong, an Ankaase royal resident in the USA but now in Ghana contesting for the position of the Kumawu paramount chief popped around as an uninvited guest. She asked and I quote, " Yaw Sarpong, what are you doing in Ghana here for the past two years?" Yaw answered, "Nana, I am still in Ghana in the hope of presenting my traditional drinks to you to be crowned the next paramount chief". Without hesitation, she instantaneously asked him to present his drinks. Yaw then submitted plenty drinks over and above the traditional requirement of soliciting for a paramount seat. Guess what? The queen served the drinks to the guests and in private just said, Yaw Sarpong is simply a nutter. Upon all these ongoing hullabaloos, wrangling and historical revelations and publications over who is a legitimate and illegitimate royal, Yaw is still snoring in a deep sleep, doltishly glorifying in the past. Yaw Sarpong as rightly said by the queen, and as ignorant as he is, went about jubilating with some family members spraying him with powder saying he has been appointed the next paramount chief.

The last days are getting more dangerous. The psychological war being waged on the Kumawuhemaa to compel her to relinquish her obstinate claim to the Kumawuman paramount throne is going to be intensified. As stubborn as she is without any manners to see reason, I shall much in the same measure be forced to come out with the facts that will reveal her shallowness of knowledge about the history of the Kumawu royal families. I had decided to reserve the damning revelation until a lady, an authority on Kumawuman history had given me the nod to publish it but as things stand now, the only alternative will be to publish it regardless. It must be noted that "Obstinacy is the cause of the horns of the hornbill". If you don't go to Heaven, don't blame Jesus", so they say. Is the historian to be blamed if he came out with the detailed information on the Kumawu Ankaase royal family in which belongs the notorious queen? She will be proved the enemy of herself. She is resolute in her pursuit to deny the true royals, thus, the Ananangyas and the Odumases, their inalienable right to the throne. Her determination to remain intransigent is just but a joke to me. It says, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going". This is my resolve. Hers is, "Quitters never win and winners never quit". She is therefore more determined than ever before to keep the Kumawu paramountcy for her Ankaase family. The Asanteman Council have been appointed to referee this great match of history recounting which may get muckier.

I wonder if Otumfuo and the Asanteman Council are all that serious with regard to seeking speedy solution to the Kumawuman chieftaincy dispute. If they were, I am well persuaded the case would have been resolved ages ago. The solution lies in compelling the queen to respond to the Asantehene's Great Oath so invoked on her; casting doubts over her legitimacy as a queen. Failing to respond to such a call will mean she is guilty. And being guilty means the paramount seat does not belong in their Ankaase family as any ordinary Kumawuman citizen can attest. If she does contest the oath, then the playing field is set for both contestants to narrate their royalty histories. It will be the winner takes all situations on that fateful day. Why can't the concerned Kumawuman citizens make a strong case to the Asantehene stating their disgust at his feet dragging on this case? There is compelling evidence to deliver a knockout blow to the queen as she with her Ankaase royals are not the true royals. I have prepared a dossier on her after several consultations with certain individuals who are conversant with Kumawuman history. A Kumawuman lady resident in Switzerland has been of much help. She has opened up her well of in-depth knowledge about Asanteman history in general, and Kumawuman history in particular, to me to drink from. It is all a fountain glittering in overflowing gold of wisdom and nutritiously rich in history. Kumawuhemaa will be no match for the Ananangyas and the Odumases as my dossier will be tendered in evidence to support their inalienable right to the Kumawu paramount throne. I want to see the queen disgraced and shamed beyond redemption, if she has chosen to pursue the path of selfishness and greediness out of sheer obstinacy bordering on stupidity.

For how long will the so-called Eminent citizens sit on the fence while they are fooled by certain powers that be? These so-called powers are never ready to tell the truth. Why should you continue to pamper the queen if she is that unreasonable? I am hugely annoyed to see her continue to prove difficult whilst knowing very well that her illegitimacy as a royal has long been established. She can only be considered to hold on to her seat if she throws in the towel now. Should she do otherwise, then I may advise differently. Who do I advise as the Ananangyas and the Odumases are not known to me personally? As the Ghanaian will usually say in their parlance, "Nyame bekyere" - God will provide. I am not appealing to anyone to go to war but I want the self-elected prominent people not to sit down on their arse, twirling their fingers, and daydreaming, hoping all is well while certain selfish people claiming to be authorities play on their intelligence.

I should like to state to the queen and her bunch of greedy advisors that they have exhausted all the opportunities available to them to claiming the throne. Their game-playing has come to an end. And she has to relinquish any held hope of claim to the throne. Akua Wurukye was enlisted by her to play some shameless trick of delaying the case. She could do it only but for a while and to a certain degree. She has come to the end of her tethers. She is technically expunged. Otumfuo instead of throwing out Wurukye's case for unknown reasons did accord it preference over that involving the queen. He has for reasons best known to himself decided not to hint about the invocation of his oath but rather brushed it under the carpet. From today forward, I declare the Asantehene's oath as unavailing.

There are the supposed Adomakopim royals who are bothering me about their history. I will publish your history provided you brief me on it. In the meantime, I don't know you as a royal family traditionally able to ascend to the Kumawuman paramount seat. Wurukye tried to make a claim to the royal seat but went about it as the most stupid person in the annals of chieftaincy affairs. She was as confused as she was unearthed to be a liar. She was simply the queen's paid agent to try if the disgraced queen could find any solace from her self-inflicted predicament. But she failed woefully. Libations, I am told, are being poured by many embittered royals against me and my family simply for acting as a vessel of God. May their evil wishes return upon their own heads by the Grace of God. I am simply God's messenger carrying His views on the Kumawuman case to His people. Do you then kill the messenger? Get out of your ignorance, guys!

A Luta Continua

John Fosu