Abusuapanin petitions Asantehene over nominee's rejection

Bekwai (Ash), Sept. 16, GNA - The confusion over the nomination of a new paramount chief for Bekwai has taken a dramatic turn as the Abusuapanin of the Oyoko Royal clan has petitioned the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, against the rejection of his first nominee by the kingmakers.

Nana Kwasi Aboraa is seeking a pronouncement by the Asantehene on the propriety or otherwise of the unanimous rejection of Mr Osei Tutu Agyeman, whom he nominated for the vacant stool without assigning any reasons.

He is now insisting that he would make a second nomination only after the Asantehene had acted on his petition. The position of the Abusuapanin was contained in a letter read to the Bekwai Traditional Council at its meeting held at Bekwai on Thursday by Nana Amo Gyemfi, the acting President of the Council.

The Council had met at the instance of Nana Aboraa, who after the rejection of his first nominee on August 31 pleaded with the kingmakers, to give him up to today to make a second nomination. Visibly angered and frustrated the kingmakers expressed disquiet about what they perceived as a contemptuous attitude towards the Council by the Abusuapanin.

Nana Asiedu Okofo, Bekwai Krontihene, said he saw in Nana Aboraa's behaviour, as an invitation to provoke tension and a legal dispute over the nomination and installation of a new Bekwaihene. He made it clear that the kingmakers would not be drawn into that saying, the people of Bekwai have had enough of chieftaincy disputes.

The Krontihene observed that resources wasted on legal battles over the vacant stool could be used to support the development of education in the area. The Council, therefore, resolved not to make any further move on the nomination of a new paramount chief until the Asantehene had responded to the Abusuapanin's petition.

With the rejection of Mr Agyeman, the contest for the stool has become a straight fight between London-based, Mr Kofi Tontoh and Mr Kofi Gyawu of the Ghana Telecommunications Company (GTC). The Bekwai stool has been at the centre of dispute since the destoolment of Nana Osei Kwadwo in 1991.