Life is a Journey: Live it (Part 128)

The other autobiography
„Another African story?“ I asked. They all signalled that they wanted to hear more about an exciting and breathtaking continent that will one day rule the world once again, ending a cycle of development. Most Africans are not aware of their future, looking at the misery they live in. When the race for the last remaining minerals in Africa's soil begins, the world will know about the priority in the lineup of African friends.

„One of the church members of Glorious Wave Church International of my Prophet Dr Emmanuel Badu Kobi was Thomas Akwasi Owusu-Afriye. We met in church and discovered both were Germans, at least I still was. He was once German before he renounced his German citizenship to accept US citizenship when he married a Ghanaian-born US citizen, his second wife.

He invited me to visit him at his house in Vulcaniser Street near Sakumono Village. It was a green family house like so many others around. His black Saab 900 Convertible was parked outside, and the entrance was hard to find as hugh mango trees blocked the gate. The road was not paved and was exposed during rainy seasons, causing the mud to shift from side to side, making it hard for any car to pass. The road went uphill, and the neighbourhood was quiet. When he opened the gate, I stood in a wide-open courtyard with only green around, no flowers in sight. To the right, just outside the garage, two while plastic containers in a metal frame were parked. He used them to mix paint as he was a painter by profession. Before he left John Hopkins Hospital in New York, where he worked as a craftsman, a friend of his told him that paint is mostly water mixed with a certain powder. All he had to bring from New York was the powder. In the white containers, he would mix the powder with pure water, ready for his paint jobs.

Entering his house, visitors stood in a wide-open living room. On the wall to the left, the portrait of Otumfo Osei Tutu II was hanging on a yellow-painted wall. He asked me whether I knew the person on the wall, and I said yes. He smiled before confessing he was the nephew of the Asantehene and a potential candidate, God willing, to follow in his footsteps. According to Ashanti tradition, the eldest son of the eldest sister of the late Otumfo would be chosen by the Queen Mother to become the next Asantehene. The Queen Mother has an important role to play in suggesting the next King of the Ashantis. After explaining to me his ancestral connection, he asked me to have a seat. I sat next to him on very fine carved chairs, which looked very royal to me. Being from Hamburg, never close to any Royal, as Hamburg, for over a thousand years, was ruled over by the people, not any Royal. Unlike most parts of Germany. By tradition, if a Hamburger wishes to accept a medal of honour from a foreign state, he first has to ask the Hamburg authorities for permission.

Thomas Akwasi Owusu-Afriye started to share his life story with me. As a young man, just eighteen, he left for Hamburg in Germany. He settled in Hamburg-Wandsbek. His three kids were born in Germany and had no connection to Ghana. They prefer friendship with Germans and had never visited Ghana, and had no intention ever to visit the country where their parents came from. Anything that had to do with his royal background was not of interest to them. Over a fight about a house, he and his first wife got divorced. Eventually, he got married again to his second wife and moved to New York, where he lived in the Bronx. For five years, he was the Private Secretary to his uncle in London and had to shield him from eyes which wanted to know all about his love for women, as he put it. He did not share stories of his uncle with me out of respect for the Golden Stool that Otumfo Osei Tutu II occupied. He only mentioned that his uncle had a Villa in Accra, which had cost USD 1,8 Mio. and he bought it from a man he knew from London. That particular man was a real estate developer and seller of heavy machinery. I should come closer to that mystery man a few weeks later.

Years in Germany made it possible to become a German citizen. As Germany did not permit dual citizenship at that time, and he wanted to spend his life in the USA as well as Ghana, he dumped the German passport. While working in Germany, he was employed by Mercedes-Benz. In their plant in Bremen, an hour's drive from Hamburg, he was the Head of Security. In 2000, when the World Exhibition was ongoing in Hanover, he was asked to be part of the Security Team for three months. Before that, his name had reached the highest political authority of Germany, the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder SPD. Thomas and I are both members of the SPD, the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The previous year, the former Otumfo had passed on, and his uncle was called to occupy the throne in Kumasi.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder sent an envoy to Hamburg. Thomas Akwasi Owusu-Afriye was asked to come to a meeting at the Police Headquarters at Berliner Tor. Meeting the envoy Gerhard Schröder made him the offer that Germany, and behind Germany, the European Union, would push him onto the throne in Kumasi. Their interest was to see a German citizen on the Golden Stool to manage future legal and illegal migrants from Ghana and the region. Gerhard Schröder had seen the problems the current Ghanaian migrants caused for German society and wanted a man on the spot to ensure that German interests were well observed. Thomas declined the offer, referring to the Ashanti tradition according to which his uncle in London would be the next and rightful king of the Ashantis.

Our second meeting in his house took place a few weeks later. We sat outside on the veranda overlooking the back garden. He had given me a tour of the house and shown me his kitchen, which he often used to mix powder with water for his painting job. Sitting on the veranda, he told me about the only job he had for months. He had painted the house of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, who lived not far from him. With deep regrets did, he informed me he had come with great hopes from New York to Ghana for one year to establish his painting business. Everywhere he went, he had to bribe people. His savings had run dry. Thomas Akwassi Owusu-Afriye said to me, with tears in his eyes, that he could now understand what the situation was for me. He said if what the system in Ghana did to him to bring him down, how much a foreigner like me. Looking back into history, he said his previous downfall was caused by former President Kufuor, the so-called gentle giant. Thomas did not elaborate on the details of his claim. I had noticed the black Saab 900 Convertible was no longer standing outside his house while he was at home.

He cut my visit short, expecting guests. Thomas described them as people of a different kind. They were dangerous. These people did not fear anyone ready to shoot. As for him, the boss was gentle. While living in London, the gang leader was a very poor man. He would sometimes come to the Villa of his uncle, the then lawyer and Thomas, the secretary to his uncle, would give him some money out of mercy. This was the same man who was behind the recent scandal when a young Ghanaian lady tried to smuggle eight kilos of cocaine into the UK and got caught at London Heathrow Airport. At her, the police had found various diplomatic passports. The woman was sentenced to four years in prison and expelled to Ghana after her release. My prophet, Dr Emmanuel Badu Kobi, years later, was asked by the young lady to see her in Tema on her deathbed, and he went there. When this story was all over the media outlets in Ghana, everyone asked the same question: who was behind the deal and how what its possible for the young lady to travel freely from Ghana to the UK and, on top of it all, have diplomatic passports. Thomas added clearly that I should not know too much about what was really going on in Ghana to protect my life. When the phone rang, and the boss of the gang announced his coming at any minute, Thomas asked me to leave, as if he would see me, my life would never be the same. I left the house as fast as I could, making sure no one saw me.