Clean Up Exercise Heralds Asantehemaa’s Ayekesie

… As Asanteman Goes Black With Kuntunkuni   

From Sebastian R. Freiku, Kumasi
All is set for the burial rites (Dote yie) of the late Asantehemaa, Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II.

Last Saturday was set aside by the traditional authority for general cleaning of the all the nooks and cranny of the metropolis, in preparation towards the occasion, spread  over four days, from today, January 16, to Thursday January 19, 2017.

All mourners should be in the official mourning cloth, 'Kuntunkuni', or anything black, except dignitaries from other countries who are not permitted to do so by culture.

Today marks the first of the four days earmarked for the mourning of the late Asantehemaa, Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II, as she is being prepared for her last “journey to the village.”

Nananom from Asanteman will file past the Queenmother and pay their last respects, from morning till 11 a.m., at which time Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, will also file past his late mother, and subsequently sit in state to receive sympathisers.

Members of the public can also file past the Queenmother after Otumfuo has filed past his late mother.

Tomorrow and on Wednesday, chiefs and traditional rulers from outside the Asante Kingdom would be expected to file past the late Queenmother and pay their last respects.

The President of the Republic of Ghana, H. E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and past Ghanaian presidents, ministers, government officials, foreign dignitaries, as well as top-notch businessmen and women, will also show their last respects on these two days.

His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II will not sit in state on Thursday to receive sympathisers. He, will, however, make himself available for over an hour for some dignitaries from abroad who could not make it on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The late Queenmother will at 11 am on Thursday morning be taken to St. Cyprians Anglican Church for a Burial Mass Service, which would be watched by members of the general public at the Jubilee Park, where a giant screen will be mounted to show what transpires in the Church.

The body will then be marched through Adum to Bantama, where wreaths will be laid. The Queenmother will be taken to Breman, were she will be put to rest. She would be buried at the ancestral burial grounds at Breman, after the Burial Service at the Bantama Mausoleum.

No one is to be seen outside the streets of Bantama to Breman on the night of January 19, from 6:00pm till the next morning, Friday January 20.

The death of Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II, Queenmother of the Ashanti Kingdom, was reported during the late hours of November 15, 2016.

She passed away at 111 years of age, and was the biological mother of the current occupant of the Golden Stool.