Asantehene sets up charity foundation

The Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Charity Foundation, a "Global mouthpiece" for the Asantehene's charity work in Ghana and Africa, will be officially launched on April 25, 2009 at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to mark a decade-long reign of his leadership and development.

The idea for the foundation was conceived out of his promise to serve his people in two main ways, education and health development.

Under the foundation, the "Otumfuo Educational Fund" was set up in 1999 to ensure the advancement of education for the benefit of all Ghanaians, as well as the establishment of the Serwah Ampem AIDS Foundation for Children affected and infected with HIV/AIDS.

Recounting the achievements of the foundation so far to members of the media at a press conference in Accra, some executive members of the foundation said it was the vision of Otumfuo that through the foundation Africans would realise their dreams of educational advancement, and that the standard of education across Africa would be kept appreciably high.

The mission of the foundation, they said, was to help stop the decline in the standard of education by supplementing the efforts of the central government in the provision of quality education for all, and to provide the needed care and support for children affected and infected with HIV/AIDS.

An executive member of the foundation, Dr Thomas Agyarko-Poku, attested to the fact that for almost a decade the Otumfuo Education Fund had been working to achieve this goal through the provision of financial aid and material assistance to needy pupils and students, provision of incentive packages for exemplary teachers and educational workers, rehabilitation of educational facilities, supply of school equipment, materials and teaching materials, among others.

Currently, he said, thousands of individuals studying at different educational levels were being supported by the fund, adding that the fund was keen to build a number of libraries equipped with print and online resources, as well as Information and Communication Technology for beneficiary institutions.

Additionally, he said, it was the vision under the Serwah Ampem AIDS Foundation for Children to extend its mandate across Africa, to reach out to even greater number of distressed children across Africa, but sadly, that was not possible in the short term because of lack of requisite financial and other resources.

However, Dr Agyarko-Poku said the foundation had been able to chalk up a lot of successes, with beneficiary institutions including the Ada Secondary School, Wiawso Secondary School, KNUST, Jachie Pramso Secondary School, Afua Kobi Secondary School, Nchiraa Cluster of Schools, Brong Ahafo Presby and Kumasi Wesley Girls High School.

According to him, the establishment of the Otumfuo Education Fund set the pace for other traditional leaders within Ashanti and throughout Ghana to set up similar funds to help their people, adding that through the fund, the image of the Asantehene had been raised both within and outside the country.

Mr Derek Hammond, an executive member of the foundation and Managing Director of Evolve Limited, outlined some of the activities earmarked to celebrate the decade-long reign of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, which include sporting activities where a football match would be organised between a leading premier league club in the United Kingdom and a local premier league team.

Other activities he enumerated included a golf tournament to raise funds for the foundation and a charity concert in November, where a top US or UK artist would be invited to perform.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II in a message read on his behalf urged all traditional rulers in Ghana and Africa to utilise the abundant influence they possessed in- partnering government to deliver social and economic benefits to Africans.

He said the worst injustice they could ever visit on their people was to sit aloof and watch the central government alone to facilitate social development projects.

"At this present-day point in history, when communities are demanding to fully. participate in shaping their development dreams, it is obligatory on the part of community leaders, traditional and spiritual guides to take their rightful places to provide the expected visionary and transformational leadership for their people," he stated, and expressed belief that hand in hand they could fulfill the dream of raising an army of leaders and achievers for the African continent.