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The beautiful town of Abene which lies on the lofty Kwahu Mountains, was full of excitement last Saturday when a 54-year-old Civil Engineer, Baffour Akoto Osei, was enstooled as the new Paramount Chief of the Kwahu Traditional Area, according to the Daily Graphic.
Highlighting details, the state-owned paper said Baffour, from the Etena family of Nkwatia, has now assumed the stool name Daasebre Akuamoah Boateng III and succeeds Daasebre Akuamoah Agyapong II, who was destooled late last year, after ruling for seven years.
The colourful ceremony brought to light traditional dances, as well as cultural displays and customs depicting the rich traditions of the chiefs and people of the area.
The atmosphere in the town was euphoric and there were policemen to ensure law and order.
As early as 6 a.m., all the necessary customary rites were performed at Etena Bretuo Ahenfie, amid traditional drumming, singing and dancing through the principal streets of Abene.
The procession ended up at the Etena Bretuo Ahenfie, the seat of the paramountcy where Akyemfuo Asiedu Agyeman III administered the oath of allegiance to Daasebre Akuamoah Boateng III.
The oath of allegiance was sworn before the Abetifihene who is also the Adontenhene of the area and acting Kwahumanhene, Akyemfuo Asiedu Agyeman III.
After the rites, Akyemfuo Agyeman advised the new Omanhene to serve the people in the traditional area diligently.
He urged the new Omanhene not to lord it over the people and appealed to the other sub-chiefs and the people of the area to support him for the betterment of the traditional area.
Akyemfuo Agyeman, therefore, asked the people to continue to pray for the new chief to succeed in whatever he did to improve their living conditions.
The Adontenhene, who called for unity and togetherness among the chiefs and people, appealed to the new Paramount Chief to help bring more development to the area.
For his part, Daasebre Boateng expressed appreciation to the kingmakers for selecting him for the stool and asked for God’s blessings. He pledged to work with the chiefs and people to develop the traditional area.
The new Kwahumanhene pledged to be truthful and sincere to the chiefs and people. He asked for their support to improve their socio-economic conditions.
The anti-climax to the otherwise sacred event was that Kwahu had r was inaugurating another personality as Paramount Chief of the Kwahu Traditional Council.
At both ceremonies, prominent dignitaries had who graced the occasion included a representative from the Office of former Presidents, and politicians across the political and religious divides. It was the same story regarding patronage by the business community.
Again, significantly, there the usual displays of Akan traditional drums, musical instruments, and tunes from the traditional area to the applause of dignitaries who had come from all parts of the country and the general public.
A royal of the Etena Clan of Nkwatia, Daasebre Akuamoah Boateng is a chartered civil engineer, real estate developer, project manager and shipping executive with over 28 years of industrial experience.
Returning the nation to a peaceful Kwahu
Kwahu has been one of the most peaceful communities in Ghana since the days of the Provisional National Defence Council.
Even before that, Kwahu was united in its commitment to development programmes usually funded by citizens living in and outside from the Diaspora and Middle east through South Africa to Accra and Kumasi.
Every Kwahu citizen then had an obligation to contribute to the building of schools and health facilities etc, including construction and maintenance of roads with Siaw Tata as stalwarts, among several others.
It appears now that the Kwahu we knew is becoming more political than the previous stable community that Kwahu has been known to be.
With Kwahu now divided on account of a chieftaincy matter, we can only hope that politicians do not muddy the waters for political profit. Already, Kwahu has been victim recently of immorality arising out of alien cultures that had invaded the communities in the once rich traditional culture. That, in the opinion of The Inquirer, should be a source of worry as the situation festers in the coming days.
We on The Inquirer cannot pretend to know more than the Elders of the community or, for that matter, the security agencies or the courts.
As Ghanaians and a veritable segment of the media and civil society front, we can only pray for Kwahu as it gradually unites itself in community development as it used to be decades and decades ago, away from political intrusion and intrigues.
