Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Obstinately Decides to Share Kumawuman Lands & Money among Agogo, Kwamang and Kumawu



The latest updates on the Kumawu stool dispute have it that Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, as intransigent as he has always been, as regards his questionable involvement in the Kumawu stool dispute, has unavoidably decided to do two things that will be a double-slap in the face of all discerning Kumawuman citizens.



Firstly, despite there being the pendency of an injunction against the credibility of Dr Yaw Sarfo, the alleged Kumawuhene, from conducting himself as such until determination by a competent court of jurisdiction, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has for almost the last three weeks, secretly compelled a registrar to gazette him (Dr Yaw Sarfo) as the paramount chief of Kumawu traditional area. He goes by the stool name Barimah Sarfo Tweneboah Koduah.



What is meant by to gazette, many a layman may wish to know? To Gazette is to publish, announce, or list in an official government journal public notices, appointments, events or facts etc.



Since Dr Yaw Sarfo's illegal and untraditional enstoolment as Kumawuhene on Thursday 30 October 2014, he had not been gazetted until recently, as hereby reported. Many of the Asanteman paramount chiefs spoke against any attempts by Asantehene to gazette him, claiming his swearing-in as Kumawuhene in the clearly established absence of Kumawu Kontrihene and Akwamuhene was uncustomary hence his automatic disqualification as the paramount chief of Kumawu. They said this without mincing words, when Dr Yaw Sarfo was first taken to Manhyia Palace to swear the oath of allegiance to the Golden Stool and to be introduced to the other Amanhene.



In spite of Asantehene colluding with other Amanhene to have Dr Yaw Sarfo gazetted on the day that he swore allegiance to the Golden Stool, many others opposed the move. They opined that he could not conventionally be recognised or accepted as Kumawuhene for failing to swear allegiance to Kumawu Kontrihene and Akwamuhene. Subsequently, he was not gazetted on that day until recently as just reported.



Otumfuo Osei Tutu II is desperately taking machismo tactics in the hope that people will be scared and then allow him to have his own way in the Kumawu stool dispute. He will never be permitted to legitimise his illegalities. He is not the Overlord of Asanteman, especially, of Kumawu. Nobody has given him the mandate to deceitfully lord himself over the people and the lands of Kumawuman. Born intrinsically a shameless crook, an opportunist and a dictator, he is taking every measure to bully Kumawuman people into submission in order for him to assert his exploitative authority over us. Try as he does Rockson Adofo and other like-minded Kumawuman citizens who are well versed in the history of Kumawuman and that of Asante Confederacy - delimiting the authority of Asantehene will strenuously resist him.



Secondly, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has said again that the Kumawu Afram Plains lands were acquired not only by Kumawu fighting the Ataale Finam war on her own, but with the combined efforts of Agogo and Kwamang. Consequently, he will share the Afram Plains lands and whatever money that has accrued, and is still accruing, from the Afram Plains lands to Kumawuman, as sits in a near-dormant account with the Bank of Ghana, among Kumawu, Kwamang and Agogo.



Before I proceed any further, pardon me to define what is a dormant account. Dorman Account is "when there has been no financial activity for a long period of time, other than posting of interest, an account can be classified as dormant. Statute of limitations usually does not apply to dormant accounts, and funds can be claimed by the owner or beneficiary at any time".



I wonder why Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the supposed Overlord of Asanteman, has for years been overtly exhibiting keen ambition to rewrite the history of Kumawuman. He has since September 2000, been aspiring to divide the Kumawu Afram Plains stool lands among Agogo, Kwamang and Kumawu. Who has given him that audacious mandate to insist on distributing the lands, and the compensation and royalties accruing to Kumawuman from the Afram Plains stool lands among Agogo, Kumawu and Kwamang?



On Thursday, 1 March 2012, John Fosu published an article on how Asantehene had secretly arranged a land surveyor to survey the Afram Plains lands. He titled the publication, "Asantehene Indulges in Gargantuan "Woyomization" of Kumawuman". The following web link takes you to the said publication/article.


http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=230848


Upon all the alleged evils committed by the late Kumawuhene Barimah Asumadu Sakyi II against his subjects and Kumawuman, he boldly rebuffed Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, on his (Otumfuo's) collusive quest to mediate between Kumawu and Kwamang over a border dispute between both divisions in Asanteman. He said a case that has been resolved by the Ghana Supreme Court, pronouncing judgment in favour of Kumawu can NEVER under any circumstances be arbitrated again by Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.



One can only fathom what his motives are. He simply wants to steal from Kumawuman; reduce the size and strength of Kumawuman within Asanteman to be able to exercise his ridiculous autocratic rule over us. In pursuance of his spiteful agenda, thievery of course, he has resolved to pit Agogo and Kwamang against Kumawu in an event of Kumawu refusing to go along with his cunning resolution.


I have a copy of the letter sent by Barimah Asumadu Sakyi II to The Registrar, Ashanti Regional House of Chiefs, Kumasi, in my possession. I had tried to reproduce its true form copy here but the quality of the outcome (word document) is very bad because of the numerously dotted nature of the paper on which Barimah's arguments, facts etc. are carried across due to over-photocopying.


I will be forwarding a Pdf copy to the publishers, then reproduce a re-written copy below. This is to prove how Asantehene has over the years been entertaining the idea of reducing Kumawuman to nothing.


He is now pitting Kumawuman against Agogo and Kwamang all because of his insatiably greedy and selfish intents to enrich himself at the expense of Kumawuman.



He has found a puppet in the person of Dr Yaw Sarfo, the alleged Kumawuhene Barimah Sarfo Tweneboah Koduah who does as Asanthene dictates to him without foreseeing the difficulties or the adverse consequences waiting to unleash on Kumawuman citizens. Yaw Sarfo and Kumawuhemaa have agreed with Asantehene to share the lands and money as he desires to, as long as he does whatever is in his capacity to make Yaw Sarfo remain Kumawuhene hence the secret gazetting as reported.



I shall resist Asantehene in all his dubious ploys as much as I can, regardless of the views of all those conniving with him to rape Kumawuman in broad daylight. I wonder how Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, upon all his disgraceful public castigations because of his bad behaviours and questionable character, is still adamantly dubiously involved in Kumawuman affairs. He wants to exploit Kumawuman as long as the people are quiet and scared of him, with Kumawuhemaa and Yaw Sarfo being his co-plotter and puppet, respectively.



A few of the supposedly well placed Kumawuman citizens who are, but walking along with their stomach, are in collusion with Asantehene to divest Kumawuman of her lands and money. These individuals have taken money from Kumawuhemaa and again, have been promised cars and further favours hence siding with her and Asantehene to not only impose Dr Yaw Sarfo, but also, rob, Kumawuman, as explained above.



In order not to bother my readers that much, I want them to understand that I shall keep on the good fight to defeat Asantehene and his entire connivers in their plots to destroy Kumawuman through rewriting her story, reducing her size and stealing her money.



Look at the deplorable state of Kumawuman, especially Kumawu. Shall we not be the Biggest Fools ever to exist on this planetary earth should we allow Asantehene to do this to Kumawuman, our father and or motherland?



I shall continue to battle on along with some trusted people, and with God on our side, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II will be brought onto his knees, weeping the tears of shame and going crimson with embarrassment. God and the following philosophies are my strength. In the story of Peter Pan, it says, "The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it". But Peter Pan was able to fly because he believed he could do so.



Finally, "What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it's the size of the fight in the dog" – General Dwight Eisenhower.



Rockson Adofo





The Palace
Kumawu Traditional Council
Kumawu

February, 20, 2003

THE REGISTRAR
ASHANTI REGIONAL HOUSE OF CHIEFS
KUMASI


COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY INTO BORDER DISPUTE
BETWEEN KWAMANG AND KUMAWU

Your letter dated 10th February, 2003 (Ref ARHC 1/SF 657/V 2/16) addressed to the members of your committee on the above mentioned matter and copied to me has been referred by me to my Solicitors for advice and I am still of the view that no useful purpose would be served by either continuing with the process or starting afresh the intended enquiry into a border dispute between my stool and the Kwamang Stool.

As is the Substance of my Solicitor's Hayfon-Benjamin & Co. letter to Committee dated 21st September, 2000 what was purporting to be an attempted negotiated settlement termed out to be a full scale enquiry or arbitration which is neither warranted by law or Custom. My Solicitors are therefore of the opinion that upon receipt of the said letter, the committee took the right decision when " the Committee came to a consensus that they would refer it back to Otumfuo Asantehene who appointed the Committee"

It is clear that there are no boundary marks or lines between Kumawu and Kwamang and therefore the appointment of the committee was an attempt to inveigle the Kumawu Stool into compromising its established claims to that part of Kumawu – Beposo lands over which there have been judgements of recognised courts and Tribunals in favour of Kumawu since 1919. Elders and I will therefore not accede to such a course of action which seeks inferentially to take away without any legal justification portions of Kumawu lands in which the allodial title rests in Kumawu Stool.

It must also be now recognised that after nearly a century of litigation in which the Kwamang Stool has always lost-Save for the recognition of its allodial rites in certain parts of the Kujam Forest and Game Reserve – It is time that the litigation be deemed to be concluded rather than protracted by unwarranted arbitral processes.

The history of the arbitral powers of Chiefs within the whole scheme of Chieftaincy affairs concludes Act (Act 370) which repealed the Chieftaincy Act (Act 81) section 5 which states, "The power of any Chief to act extra-judiciary as an arbitrator under customary law in any dispute in respect of which the parties thereof so acting is hereby reserved as this section together with the rest of Act 81 was effectively repealed.

I am informed by my Solicitors and verily believe the same to be true that any arbitral process within the context of the authority of Chieftaincy House of Chiefs is illegal, and the results thereof null and void. It was therefore the necessity to save Chiefs from embarrassment that the Stool Lands Act together with its Boundary Commission was established, as you know the Stool Lands Boundaries Commission and over the years engaged qualified surveyors to make Cadastral plans together with survey pillars of the lands which have been contested by rival Stools. In view of the irrelevant litigation by the Kwamang Stool over Kumawu lands such Cadastral plans exist which show that the Kwamang Stool has no lands with which to form a boundary with Kumawu Stool lands. I am advised by my Solicitors that the Western boundary of Kumawu is Beposo Stool has that boundary with Kumawu it is impossible for Kwamang Stool to have any boundary – East West or South – with Kumawu Stool.

I have tried to illustrate in this letter the utter futility of any form of negotiation between my Stool and the Kwamang Stool since my stool will not give up its land. Besides the 1992 Constitution by articles 267 et seq 06 chapter 21 thereof having established stool lands and appointed an Administrator of Stool Lands to manage and control such Stool Lands for the benefit of the citizens of respective Stools, I cannot imagine how an arbitral body such as the Committee presided over by Nana Oduro Numapau II – Essumejahene may within the four corners of the 1992 constitution give any directions to the Administrator of Stool Lands to alter the settled boundaries of the Kumawu Stool.

Finally, I note from the order made by the Committee on the 20th September 2000 that the enquiry was to be referred back to Otumfuo the Asantehene who appointed the Committee. Kumawu Stool will therefore not accede to the Nana Oduro Numapau's invitation to attend the proceeding of the aborted committee on the 25th February 2003 to 27th February 2003 or to any other date to which such proceedings may be adjourned.

Yours faithfully,



BARIMA ASUMADU SAKYI II
(Paramount Chief of Kumawu Traditional Area)


Cc. KWAMANGHENE &
ALL COMMITTEE MEMBERS