The Dwaben queenmother situation and the need for Otumfuo to intervene

The custodians of Asante customs and traditions including our most revered Asantehene Otumfuo have inculcated in us the most sacred of Asante spiritual customs. When a queenmother dies and the burial is performed adequate consultations are Initiated to consider the suitability of the various candidates.

The selection process begins with consultations with the head of the Royal Family (abusuapanin), the elderly women (mmapaninfuo), and eminent royals within the family. Occasionally the Omanhene may handpick his choice even though that may not be desirable, within the structure of a family meeting, the interest of others is considered and the Omanhene's choice is legitimised. When the selection is done and the necessary customs are performed, then a date is set for the royal funeral of the late Queen mother. This is not different from the process that follows the death of a king (omanhene).

Under the present circumstance in Asante Dwaben the Doteyie of Nana Akosua Akyamaa III has been duly performed from 23rd to 26th February 2024. As part of the funeral announcement the new queen mother will be installed on Thursday 29th February and then the final funeral rite starts on Saturday 2nd March. Nana Otuo Siriboe II is installing a direct biological sister Nana Akua Serwaa Adiyia as the new queenmother of Asante Dwaben without consideration to other family sisters with equal if not more prerogative to be queenmother.

A similar unorthodox process occurred in January 1995 when the late Nana Akosua Akyamaa II (biological mother who died on 3rd November 1994) funeral was being performed and the late Nana Akosua Akyamaa III, biological sister of Nana Otuo Siriboe II, was installed. It may interest readers and watchers of Asante infidelity to know that the late Nana Akosua Akyamaa I  is the grandmother Nana Otuo Siriboe II.

It is heresy that we are permitted to consider that the royals of Dwaben and Koforidua are limited to only the lineage of Akyamaa I. Of course not! Even among the descendants of Nana Akua Boatemaa whom Dwabenhene trace his lineage from there are other royals. Nana Osei Tutu the Great who untied the Asante heritage would turn in his grave at the insult being done to Dwaben a foundation pillar of the Asante Kingdom.

Under the supervision of Nana Otuo Siriboe II they have re-written history of Dwaben royalty and the foundation of the Asante kingdom itself. History has been severally rewritten to claim that the existing royals are only the descendants of Nana Akua Boatemaa, who was born in mid-19th century and cannot be the sole ancestress of the royals of Dwaben.

The ancestral guardians of Asante Royalty, key actors in the foundation of Asanteman have been wantonly ignored by a clique of Nana Otuo Siriboe worshipers. Great ancestors like Dankwa Frapo, Adarkwa Yiadom, Dwaben Sei Hwedie, Nana Kofi Akrasi, and Nananom Ako ne Akyaa have been re-written out of Asante and Dwaben history. Even Dwaben Serwaa of the first half of 19th century who brought the great division with the support of some divisional chiefs cannot be left out. They have not had the opportunity to serve the deserving people of Dwaben in the era of Nana Otuo Siriboe worshipers and the monetization of Asante institutions. 

Seven years ago the Doteyie of Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II was performed and peacefully buried on 16th January 2017. The New Asantehemaa was installed on 6th February 2017 and the final funeral right of the late Asantehemaa was set for 1st to 15th December 2017. It took barely three weeks after the burial to select the new Asantehemaa. Even the head of Asante customs and traditions, the Ɔpemsoɔ Osei Tutu Nyamekɛse took his time to bring a new Queenmother of Asanteman why would Dwabenhene Nana Otuo Siriboe II do things in haste? 

So if there are other royals why is it that it is being made to deceive people that Nana Otuo Siriboe II and his immediate kinsmen only are eligible to occupy both the old and new Dwaben stools? As history tells only the Mpampama royals were handed with a separate stool. It is erroneously ingrained in the mind of the present generation to deceptively accept that a very large proportion of blood royals have been banned from the Yiadom-Hwedie stool, a falsehood perpetuated by worshippers and descendants of Nana Akua Boatemaa who have clung to the stools for close to 150 years. We are descendants of Nananom Pankyie, Kraa Dehyeɛ/Duwaa and Abrafi Mansa in Dwaben and Koforidua. They are not lost!

I will plead with Otumfuo to intervene with the happenings of in Dwaben. The role of Dwaben and the blood of Dwaben ancestry in the formation of Asanteman cannot be converted into fiction by a current selfish, self-serving generation. Truth, sacrifice and genuineness have been the hallmarks of the Asante kingdom. In Asante history, our periods of decline were always preceded by egoistic prevaricators being in leadership. The Asante spirit will not be submerged forever, truth, sacrifice and genuineness will re-emerge.