Chieftaincy Minister Stephen Asamoa Boateng acknowledged the challenge many face in accepting the historical fact that Asantes once defeated the Dormaas as an underpinning cause of the feud.
He said this when he addressed a question regarding the efforts of the Chieftaincy Ministry in resolving the ongoing feud between the Asantehene, Otumfour Osei Tutu II, and the Dormaahene, Oseadeayo Agyemang Badu II.
Mr. Stephen Asamoa Boateng expressed the difficulty involved in mediating the conflict between the two revered traditional rulers.
“I have a difficult job in the sense that chieftaincy concerns everybody. We all come from a community where there is a chief or Odikro or Mankrado but there are issues with how the people get enstooled or get enskinned. So in the wisdom of Ghana’s constitution, we guaranteed chieftaincy and also enacted an Act of Parliament to guide all of us. If you by the Chieftaincy Act 2008 (759) and look at the constitution it should be simple for everybody to be calm, peaceful, and live together happily but there are emotions attached and people want to do things that are not right.
“We all know that at some point, the Asantes defeated the Dormaas and it has not been easy for some people to take it. I am originally a Dankyira, we defeated them [Asantes] and they also defeated us, that was the order of the day then, but this is a historical thing, that is gone. So I believe in a modern democracy we need to be able to understand that we belong to one nation and we are one people.
Stephen Asamoa Boateng
He further indicated that as a democratic country it is more important that human capacity is developed instead.
“It is historical, it is also something that you and I may not understand but I believe times have moved on, we are not in the ancient times, whether we like it or not those days there was no democracy so the chieftaincy institution ruled and one gets up and beat the other, the other will go and remobilized. Now we have a democracy, there is a state called Ghana and power is invested in the presidency. It has the authority of the security apparatus so you can’t go and beat anybody you like as in the past.
“The most important thing is to train and develop our human capacity so that they can help to build your state. If it is Asante state or a Bono State or a Fante State, it is your people who are your citizens, rather than fight and argue and talk about what it is in the past.”
Stephen Asamoa Boateng
The Crust Of The Feud
The Dormaahene raised objections to the extent of the Asantehene’s authority over certain paramount chiefs whose jurisdictions extend beyond the Ashanti Region into areas like the Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Western, and Oti regions. During an Asanteman Council meeting at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi on Thursday, October 19, 2023, the Asantehene responded by recounting the historical elevation of the Dormaa stool to the status of a paramount chief by a past Asantehene.
Otumfour Osei Tutu II explained that his uncle, the then Asantehene, was responsible for elevating the Dormaa stool to the level of a paramount chief. He clarified that even before Agyemang Badu I assumed the position of Dormaa chief, Agyemang Badu I, an uncle of the current Dormaa chief, Agyemang Badu II, had sworn allegiance to the Asantehene.
In a subsequent interview, Dormaahene Osagyefo Oseadeayo Agyemang Badu II, who also serves as a High Court judge, reiterated his concerns. He questioned the Asantehene’s role in elevating chiefs to the status of paramountcy and emphasized that, according to the 1992 constitution, there is “no King in Ghana,” as it does not make any reference or provision for such a title.
He highlighted that in countries like Morocco and Saudi Arabia, where Kings and heads preside, their constitutions explicitly acknowledge the existence of a Kingdom. However, in Ghana, the constitution makes no mention of any Kingdom, leading him to assert that there is “no King” in Ghana. The Dormaahene contended that Ghana, being a state, does not house any Kingdom, rendering the title of King inappropriate for the Asantehene.
Osagyefo Oseadeayo Agyemang Badu II proposed that the inclusion and reference to the Asantehene in the Chieftaincy Act were improper. As part of an initiative to amend the Chieftaincy Act, he, along with others, intends to spearhead a campaign to remove the Asantehene’s name from the legislation. He argued that failure to do so would necessitate the inclusion of other chiefs, such as the Ya Naa, Nayiri, and others, in the Chieftaincy Act.
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