Asantes in New York City Install New Chief & Queen

Asante cultural pomp and pageantry were on high display during the Memorial Weekend in New York City when the Asante Community there installed a new Chief and Queen in what turned out to be one of the best Cultural shows ever organized in the Big Apple.

The Traditional Swearing-In-Ceremony billed as the "Main Event" of the two-day Cultural Extravaganza took place on Saturday May 24, 2003 in the 7TH Floor Grand Ballroom of the elegant Manhattan Center right across the street from the famous Madison Square Gardens in Downtown New York City. About five hundred people participated in the event which was attended by representatives and Asante "Chiefs" from many cities across the United States and Canada: Montreal, Toronto (Canada), Chicago, Washington, D.C, Dallas, Texas, Houston, Atlanta, Georgia and Connecticut. The new Asantefuohene was enstooled under the royal name of Nana Owusu Anane Amponsah I alongside his Queen, Nana Konadu Yiadom Ababio.

The swearing of the Great Oath of the Asante Nation was done before Nana Adusei Atwerewaa Ampem I, Omanhene of Tepa Traditional Area in Ghana who flew in specifically to represent the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. Also in attendance were Ghana?s Ambassador to the United Nations Nana Effah Apenteng who is also the Omanhene of Bompata Traditional Area in Ghana, Nana Frimpong Afoakwa, Omanhene of Domiabra who is a resident of New York and Dr. Kwame Donkor Fordjour, Chairman of the newly-launched Asantehene?s Golden Development Holding Company.

Delivering an address on behalf of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Tepa Omanhene Nana Adusei Ampem I appealed to the newly installed Chiefs and sub-chiefs to keep in mind the development and progress of their towns and villages in Asante and Ghana and not focus exclusively on the pomp and pageantry that goes with being a chief in "Aburokyire." Dr. Kwame Donkor Fordjour congratulated the Asante community in the United States for the promotion of Asante culture, something that was totally absent in North America when he was there thirty years ago. He admonished the Asante citizens to bear in mind that the new slogan of the Asante nation is no more "wokum apem a apem beba", (if you kill a thousand Asante warriors, a thousand more will come). "In present day Asante, there is no war. We are not going to kill any thousand people, neither is anyone going to kill a thousand Asantes. The slogan now is "woyi dollar apem a apem beba". The thousand should now be a thousand dollars coming from our pockets for the development of the Asante nation". "Modern-day wars are wars on poverty and wars for development", he said to a loud applause.

Ghana?s U.N Ambassador, Nana Effah Apenteng who was the Chairperson for the occasion appealed to Asante citizens to be law abiding. He admonished them to constantly uphold the richness of Asante culture for "a people without a culture have no roots".