IS OTUMFUO THE KING OF GHANA?

I used to ponder a lot about this very question when I was quite young but today though I am relatively older I still need answers to this interesting question. Some group of people in the country will prefer to call Otumfuo the king of Ghana or even the Vice president of our motherland but they should ask themselves this one question, what about the other kings like king of Ga state, paramount chiefs of the northern states? Are these kings rather ministers?

To anybody who wants to refer to the Otumfuo as the king of Ghana I will agree to some extent. Firstly because among the numerous chiefs and kings Otumfuo carries himself as a respectable and a very prominent one probably because of history. He has an education fund which supports brilliant but needy students within and without the Ashanti state to study abroad. He mediates chieftaincy conflicts in other kingdoms though he has his own fair share of these conflicts etc.

Secondly, due to the population size of Ashantis in Ghana, it appears the whole of the country is under him. One scenario that can illustrate this is when one bad nut spoils a soup, it appears all the other nuts in the soup are spoilt too even if it is not so. It is a fact that not only chiefs in the ashanti regions owe allegiance to this king but other chiefs in areas like the brong ahafo, the volta etc. If this is so, then it means he has his tentacles spread all over than any other king or chief.

Thirdly, the Ashanti state is fortunate to have mineral resources in its land and if the saying that money is power is right then this is another factor that makes the Otumfuo appear as the king of Ghana. Also, during the preindependence days this state had a lot to do with the colonial people and so had the benefit of putting its people into schools whilst people elsewhere like the north worked on cocoa farms. This has resulted in its people getting education and becoming the political elite of this country. Make mention of former president Kuffuor, and other heads of states before the fourth republic, former general secretary of the UN Kofi Annan and a whole lot of other prominent citizens. It is no surprise then when Otumfuo is called to help in the resolution of conflicts, mediate talks between Mr Rawlings and Mr Kuffuor.

Fourthly, this king has so much influence no one criticises him openly. We all remember the threats on the life of Ato Kwamena Dadzie a morning show host at Joy Fm who openly criticised Otumfuo over the Tuobodom chieftaincy saga and also how swift Prez. Atta-Mills acted when the Otumfuo insinuated he was going to take the laws of the land into his hands on this same Tuobodom issue.

But in Ghana and by our constitution no one chief exceeds his kingdom to other kingdoms to rule the people overthere. That is why if Otumfuo visits Ya-na one day he will sit on a skin rather than a golden stool. This is not to say Otumfuo has no lordship over the people in the volta region who owe allegiance to him. Otumfuo is not the only king with all the tactics in resolving conflicts that is why these problems persist in his state. He is also not the only king receiving royalties from mining companies because some other chiefs in the western region also receive same that is why Otumfuo the king of the Asante state should not be seen as the king of even Akans let alone talk about Ghana.