Is Ghana A Country Worth Dying For? -An Akwamu Expose!!!

The Supreme Court of Ghana will soon decide a case involving the legal owners of the ‘Akwamu Amanpong Gua,’ the Black Stool. Moreover, judicial watchers have also expressed keen interest in this case given recent allegations by Ghana's main opposition party, the NDC, to the Commonwealth. Those allegations border on judicial interference by Ghanaian politicians and other eminent personalities.

Pundits believe political meddling on the bench can account for at least some of the endemic problems Africa faces, such as harsh sentences handed down to minor theft offenders, while political operatives who loot State coffers walk around free, and rewarded in some instances with promotions. Along those lines, the Yaa Ansaa Royal Family—to which the late United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan belongs—will soon test the veracity of these claims.

The Yaa Ansaa Royal Family, led by its progeny Obaapayin Yaa Ansaa, established the Black Stool some 500 years ago in 1505 at Twifo Hermang in the Central Region of Ghana. Our expansion goals brought us into present day Akwamu in the Eastern Region some 200 years after the creation of our Black Stool, where our historical conquests remain unmatched.

Sadly, in recent years Ghana has gained ruinous notoriety for not honouring the legacies of its revered heroes and heroines. The impoverished state of Osagyefo, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's burial grounds at Nkroful prior to being moved to the Mausoleum in Accra, along with the dilapidated state of John Evans Atta Mills's burial grounds (popularly known as Asomdwe Park), are prime examples of the consequences of ignoring our own history.

The deplorable state of Asomdwe Park, which drew the ire of the former president's brother Samuel Atta-Mills, MP for the Komenda Abrem constituency, lamented, "Ghana as a country is not worth dying for.” Beyond those words of attrition, the devastation Asomdwe Park has suffered is continuous and undeniable.

This pattern can be seen throughout Ghana and is undoubtedly connected to the current case about ownership of the Akwamu Amanpong Gua. The Yaa Ansaa Royal Family, therefore, seeks one objective, and that is to find the Truth concerning the Black Stool’s ownership.

Otumfuor Osei Tutu II, a foremost authority on Akan tradition and customs, told the self-styled Akwamu Regent Kwabena Owiredu, that he wanted no part of this case when the latter sought Otumfuor's help on the matter. Nana Osei Tutu II, steeped in wisdom with an appreciation of Akan history, advised Owiredu to contact Busumuru Kofi Annan.

No one here is suggesting that the Yaa Ansaa Royal Family’s claims be cemented exclusively upon the personality and legacy of the late Kofi Atta Annan, despite him having a direct lineage to our progeny Yaa Ansaa. That type of ruling is not what we seek. Rather, we pray that the court affirms the truthfulness of our claim as owners of the Amanpong Gua, as this will bring stability to the country and improve the lives of the people of Akwamuman.

A contrary result would instead continue to disrupt, destabilize and foment the woes Ghana is currently facing. The importance of this ruling should also weigh heavily on the minds and hearts of the Justices, since their decision will set a precedent that must be consistent with the historical fact that the Stool was created using the Blood of Kofi Akoto, Yaa Ansaa's biological son.

Owiredu and his family, who hail from Anum-Boso in the Eastern Region, tried to change the narrative when it became evident they had no ownership claims. Rather than claiming ownership then, they now make an assimilation claim which has also failed.

As it turns out, the two families—Yaa Ansaa and Botwe—cannot be and are not assimilated since a few of our most sacred traditions reads “we both have separate and distinct heads of families, we do not bear the burdens or costs of funerals, while the Yaa Ansaa family hails from Akwamu, the Botwe family are from Aboabo, where they maintain their distinct family house.” Thus, Owiredu’s claims to our Stool comes via his late uncle, Kwafo Akoto II, who acted as regent during his lifetime.

Owiredu’s uncle, in turn, unilaterally selected his niece to become yet another regent, the current "queen mother" hereby known as Afrakoma II. Kwafo Akoto II on his dying bed in the presence of his son Oheneba Kwasi Pong (Alive) and Afrakoma II said, “return the Stool back to the Fantis, for it belongs to them” to which Afrakoma II responded “Well, I will tie both Stools like a knot and keep them.” And kept, she has. Upon the passing of his uncle, Owiredu's aunt appointed him as yet another regent, also without the consent of the Yaa Ansaa Royal Family.

As tradition demands, we ensured Owiredu’s uncle was not interred at our Royal Mausoleum, which is reserved as the final resting place of blood-related chiefs of the great Yaa Ansaa Royal Family. In like manner, the Yaa Ansaa Royal Family also ensured Owiredu himself never sat on our sacred stone at The Asamani Family House, a rite only reserved for our brave and courageous blood-related royals.

Asamani is the birthplace of Akwamu royal and hero Nana Asamani, who seized control of the Osu Christianborg Castle from the Danes in 1693. These facts are telling by themselves, but our ownership claims also find further support in more recent events.

It is worth examining the insertion of the word Gates into the argument by the Botwe family, portending two competing Gates that can ascend The Akwamu Amanpong Gua, The Black Stool. First, Akans do not use the word “Gate”, we use Royal Houses. Royal Houses are designed to provide internal rotational cohesion to stool ascension within the same family, where any offspring can be traced to the same progeny, in this case Obaapayin, Yaa Ansaa.

The shocking part to the Botwe family use of the word Gate versus its implied application of maintaining internal family cohesion is, both Kwabena Owiredu, and his father are natives of Anum-Boso, who subscribe to a Patrilineal (father side) path to stool ascension and inheritance, while the Yaa Ansaa family maintain a Matrilineal (mother side) path to stool ascension and inheritance.

Akwamuman, your fake chief and equally fake queen mother Afrakoma II have just been exposed and stripped naked. This is a stab to their assimilation claim, solidifies further that no ties exist between the two families, no trace to Obaapayin Yaa Ansaa by the Botwe family, further proving the two families are not, have not and cannot assimilate due to the distinctive composition of each individual family unit.

Perhaps the most damning evidence against Owiredu and the Botwe family assimilation claims, comes, not only from the arrival of the Yaa Ansaa Family to the Akwamu area with their Amanpong Gua, but one through war waged against the Aboabo State proper and it’s citizens.

That war ended in the beheading of the then chief of Aboabo, Nana Okyere Sampa, the artifacts of which remains to date at the Akwamu Palace. The Botwe family hails from Aboabo, neither do we have a legal and binding Peace Treaty between Akwamu State and Aboabo State; the idea of assimilation is a concocted fallacy.

Customs, traditions and a lack of a legal and binding peace treaty aside, this case is about actual and historical ownership of the Black Stool. We are determined to move past the baseless claims proffered by Owiredu and his counsel, aided and abetted by a certain Okyehene at the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs. Owiredu would have long been removed from the Bogyawe Palace, if not for such meddling.

The Okyehene's interest in this matter, we are told by reliable sources, is to establish a Kingdom on equal footing as the Ashanti Kingdom. For that to occur, however, he needs the consent and blessings of other Paramouncies, as he expects them to act at the expense of the rightful owners of the Akwamu Paramouncy and of the Yaa Ansaa Royal Family.

At best, this case can be characterized as an eviction. Since Owiredu continues to illegally squat at the Bogyawe Palace, and the Yaa Ansaa Royal Family seeks to retake possession of what rightfully belongs to us, the simile is accurate. That should have been the position of the lower courts as Owiredu himself, along with his family, do understand they have no ownership claims or rights against the Akwamu Amanpong Gua.

Indeed Owiredu's uncle, as regent, recognized and paid homage to the rightful owners of the stool during his 50th anniversary celebration as regent Kwafu Akoto II. He paid his respects to the true owners of the Stool he temporary occupied, referencing the owners as being from The Great Ansah Sasraku stock; a Yaa Ansaa Royal of valour who ruled Akwamuman. It is beyond dispute that neither Owiredu, nor his Uncle nor the Botwe Family have any blood ties to The Great Ansah Sasraku.

Indeed the family tree they presented to the High Court and the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs affirms this very fact, namely that no family ties exist or have ever existed between the Yaa Ansaa and Botwe families by birth, marriage, via consent or decree, or through assimilation of any kind.

As we await this ruling, it’s important Ghanaians avail themselves of the facts surrounding the ownership of The Black Stool and its royals of The Mighty Yaa Ansaa Royal Family, descendants of Efua Atta Annan, Madam Alice Addaquay and Kofi Atta Annan.

Indeed this goes beyond our forbearers, this case is about the Blood Sacrifice of Kofi Akoto, whose sacrifice was used to secure the sovereignty of Akwamu State. In the words of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Alan Brobbey, “A tree can never turn into a crocodile, no matter how long it lies in a river.”

Our reverence to Kofi Akoto’s blood sacrifice is so immense that all Akwamu war songs start and end with Yaa Ansaa ba Akoto, to wit, Yaa Ansaa’s son Akoto.

Obaapayin Yaa Ansaa, from who’s loins birthed Kofi Akoto, whose royal blood from generations past produced The Great Ansah Sasraku, our courageous heroine of valour who’s royal loins birthed Obaapa Ama Ansaa, Grandmother of Nana Akoto Kwadwo.

Obaapayin Yaa Ansaa, progeny of Nana Asameni and Kofi Atta Annan, we, your descendants will never allow our 500 year history to be denigrated by a non Akwamu native, let alone one with no royal blood or lineage. We owe all of you who came before us that honour and dignity, and it is incumbent upon the Justices now charged with deciding this matter, to uphold, respect and enforce our traditions and lineage.

The Yaa Ansaa Royal Family.