Asante gold regalia to be returned

Kumasi, Sept 27, GNA - Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, will, on October 01, witness the return of some Asante gold regalia seized by the then British colonial government and kept at the Ghana Armed Forces Museum (GFAM) or Kumasi Fort since 1951.

He will formally receive the items from Lieutenant-General J.B. Danquah, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), at a ceremony at the Manhyia Palace.

This was contained in a statement signed by Mr G.B. Osei-Antwi, Media Relations Manager, at the Manhyia Palace on Tuesday. In 1896 Lord Baiden Powell, a member of the then British Colonial Expeditionary Force, took the gold regalia from the Asantehene's palace. In 1951 his wife, Lady Baiden Powell, returned the items to the late Otumfuo Sir Osei Agyemang Prempeh II who instructed that they be kept at the Kumasi Fort for safekeeping.

In 1987, a team representing the Ghana Armed Forces led by Brigadier G.N. Guomil, the then Two Brigade Commander, sent the items to the Ghana Commercial Bank, Kumasi Main branch.