Open letter to Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu

Your Majesty,

I bring you greetings and salutations from my holy village, Lolobi Kumasi. I have studied the history of the Ashanti Kingdom and it is an indisputable fact that it is the most powerful and illustrious Kingdom in Ghana. The contributions of the Ashanti Kingdom to the socio-economic and political development of Ghana is well documented. In many respects Kumasi serves as the second administrative city and capital of Ghana, with your Manhyia Royal Palace as a main destination for visiting dignitaries to Ghana to pay homage to you and to seek your wise counsel.

I have keenly followed, your ascendancy and enthronement to the revered Ashanti Throne and have admired your stewardship and majestic leadership thus far. Your personal contributions to the peace, security, cohesion, and stability of Ghana over the years is without doubt and you are greatly admired by Ghanaians of all persuasions and ethnic backgrounds.

Your Majesty, during the Fourth Republican constitutional era, Ghana has so far had five (5) distinguished personalities privileged to serve as Presidents of Ghana including your own son John Agyekum Kufuor. Until the tenure of the current President, none of our Presidents before him contemplated to create a parallel Kingdom to rival or surpass your renowned Ashanti Kingdom ostensibly under the pretext and perception that the Ashanti Kingdom and specifically the Asantehene has become too powerful and enjoys immense fame and international recognition and as such must be contained.

Your Majesty, if you put your ears to the ground and look back at events of the past four years compared to previous years, you will not fail to notice and draw conclusions that Akyem Kyebi Ofori Panin Palace appears to be drumming up some competition of sorts with Manhyia Palace. Why is this happening and why the subtle attempt to diminish the foremost status ranking of Asanteman?

Your Majesty, you may not need to think far to appreciate why this is happening. All our former Presidents respected all national public holidays and their fixed dates on the annual calendar. But as soon as Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo took office as President, and perhaps out of sheer envy and audacity used his Presidential Executive fiat and hurriedly amended our national public holiday arrangements to include a date which sought to elevate the recognition of his Akyem Kyebi ancestry.

Your Majesty, Nana Akufo-Addo is a Lawyer but he does not appear to respect the laws of Ghana. He claimed to be holier-than-thou and swore to lead the fight against corruption, but you will agree with me that the numerous corruption scandals under his presidency and his actions as President have exposed him both in Ghana and the world at large, as the most corrupt Ghanaian President in the annals of Ghana's history.

Your Majesty, Nana Akufo-Addo claimed to be law abiding but you will agree with me that he is lawless and superintends over lawlessness in the country using his New Patriotic Party (NPP) thugs inserted into the Police Service, Military and the “illegal” National Security forces. In fact, Nana Akufo- Addo has politicised and messed up Ghana’s Security Services.

Your Majesty, Nana Akufo-Addo has used NPP fanatics and hoodlums, and the NPP thugs implanted into the Security Services to torment, intimidate and gag School Heads (Senior High School Headmasters) and Teachers from speaking out on the challenges they experience with implementation of Free SHS. Nana Addo has also packed the apex Court, the Supreme Court of Ghana, with his cronies and proxies and is now striving to usurp your influence and the authority of Manhyia for Kyebi.

Your Majesty, it is clear that Nana Akufo-Addo is threading on dangerous grounds by equating Okyehene to Asantehene, by rebuilding the Kyebi palace into modernity so he can redirect all visiting dignitaries that hitherto paid courtesy calls to Manhyia to move over to Kyebi as part of his grand plan for his second term as President of Ghana.

Your Majesty, when we allow Nana Akufo-Addo to diminish the influence and powers of Manhyia and Otumfuo, he would have succeeded in taking control over the traditional and Chieftaincy institutions of Ghana as he has done with other State and Public Institutions. This will be a dangerous development for our beloved nation, Ghana.

Your Majesty, as you have done in many previous instances and succeeded in restoring peace and stability across the country, I make a humble and passionate appeal to you to intervene, and use your high office to end Akufo-Addo's wicked, envious, and corrupt tendencies that is breaking apart the cohesion of our peaceful country.

Your Majesty, when Ashanti Region speaks loudly and clearly on December 7th, the outcome will bring back our enviable peace, national cohesion, and stability of Ghana. Ashanti Kingdom and Manhyia will then continue to enjoy its pride of place in Ghana and beyond.

I trust that my humble appeal meets your favourable consideration.

Your Majesty I will get back to you on December 10th.

Sincerely Yours,

One of your sons, Kweku Boateng