Dormaa, Akwamu Chiefs Smoke Peace Pipe

HISTORY WAS made last Saturday at Dormaa Ahenkro when two traditional leaders, Akwamu and Dormaa chiefs and their people came together in a rare show of unity.

The unification ceremony took place at the Abanpredease Palace at Dormaa Ahenkro in the Brong Ahafo Region when the Paramount Chief of the Akwamu Traditional Area, Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, led a retinue of chiefs and queen mothers from his traditional area in the Eastern Region to Dormaa.

Odeneho Kwafo Akoto was in Dormaa to thank the chiefs and people of Dormaa for their support during his installation at Akwamufie which was attended by the Dormaahene and his people.

Nana Kwafo Akoto said the people of Dormaa and Akwamu were one people because they had blood ties.

He called on the people of the two traditional areas to maintain the existing cordial relationship that existed between them.

He appealed to the Dormaahene to help broker peace in Akwamu since things had not gone well in the past 20 years in the area due to chieftaincy disputes.

This, he said, would help Akwamuman regain its rightful position in the country.

“When Akwamuman regains its rightful position it will be equally good for Dormaaman,” he added.

Odeneho Kwafo Akoto seized the occasion to advise the youth in both Dormaa and Akwamu and the nation at large not to resort to violence in the run-up to the December elections to ensure peaceful polls.

He announced that Akwamuman would from November 3-11 this year organise the first ever homecoming event which was meant to bring together all indigenes of the Akwamu Traditional Area, both home and abroad, as part of efforts to rebuild Akwamu and develop the area. He entreated the Dormaahene and his people to grace the occasion.

The Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadieyo Agyemang Badu II, noted that the Akwamu Kingdom, established in the 12th century, was one of the few great ancient kingdoms in Ghana with a very rich history.

After narrating how his forefathers moved from Akwamufie to establish the Dormaa kingdom, Nana Agyemang Badu described the coming of his senior brother, the Akwamuhene as historic and symbolic.

He pledged to do his best to help maintain the love and the existing peace between the two traditional areas.

The Dormaahene also promised to restore peace in Akwamu and urged the people of the area, both home and abroad, to come together to rally behind their chief to accelerate the development of Akwamuman.

History indicates that the Akwamuhene and Dormaahene were twin brothers who were both at Akwamufie.

However, the two got separated after the death of the Great King Ansa Sasraku about 400 years ago when there was the need to install one of them as the next king.

According to history, the kingmakers were divided over who should succeed the king. Some preferred the elder brother while others favoured the younger one. And in order to avoid any conflict, the younger one, the Dormaahene, moved out of Akwamufie with his supporters and journeyed through various parts of the country and finally settled at present day Dormaa Ahenkro.

The first President of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah tried to broker peace between the two traditional areas.

During the Nkrumah-powered reunification process which brought the two states together, the Akwamuhene by then, Odeneho Kwafo Akoto II and then Dormaahene, Nana Dr Agyemang Badu I, made a treaty in 1960 to inter-marry so as to keep their blood ties.