Barima Tweneboa Kodua and his accusers
The Kumawu chieftaincy row, which has generated much anxiety and security worries, is traceable to years of deep-seated antagonism with concern that many of the occupants of the “Kodua stool” have come from one particular royal gate, the Ankase clan.
For more than 200 years, the control of the Kumawu monarchy has not rotated among the three royal families – Ananaya, Odumasi and Ankase clans – with common progenitor being Twereboa Kodua, the first paramount chief of Kumawu Traditional Area that was known as ‘Apemso’.
This has deepened the enmity between members of the Ankase royal gate on one side and those in the direct line of Ananaya and Odumasi gates on the other side.
Last year, the Asanteman council headed by Otumfuo Osei Tutu II declared all members of the three royal gates as true descendants of Barima Twereboa Kodua and Taa Akeampong after being in tango over who was a true royal from the direct blood of the first paramount chief.
Opanin Kwabena Darkwah, clan head of the Ananaya royal family, sought to challenge Nana Serwaa Amponsah, Kumawuhemaa’s royalty to the Kumawu stool, following which he invoked the great oath of the Asante king against the queen mother at a sitting of Asanteman council on July 15, 2013 at Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.
Family tree
Determining to resolve the issue, the council asked the feuding parties to furnish it with their family trees, and took evidence from Opanin Darkwah and Nana Serwaa Amponsah amidst cross-examinations of the facts as presented by both parties.
The head of Ananaya family, giving record of the genealogy of his clan, said his great grandmother, Seni Fotom was the mother of Akwitema aka Afua Hema and Tweabia Sanaa whose descendants formed the Ananaya and Odumasi gates respectively.
He narrated that Akwitema was the mother of Kofi Afikan, Akosua Hema aka Pomaa Tia and Abena Amobi. And Abena Amobi was the mother of Barima Asumadu Sekyi I and Afua Dua, while Afua Dua was the mother of Bedi Asempa who established Bodomase and Ananaya communities.
Opanin Darkwah and Nana Amponsah in a hand shake
Bedi Asempa was the mother of Akosua Nima, Akosua Nima was the mother of Taa Akyeamapong and Twereboa Kodua II, and Taa Akyeampong was the mother Yaa Ampobi, and Yaa Ampobi was a mother of five children including four females with Afua Drowaa as the first born, he added.
According to him, Afua Drowaa gave birth to Kyerwaa, Kwame Gyesiaw and Tanoa aka Gyentuwaa, mother of Twereboa Kodua Kokoo II and Anyina Ponfi.
Anyina Ponfi was the mother of Obeng Kokoo who also gave birth to Obeng Aso, and Obeng Aso was the mother of Napowaa, Kofi Kodua and Kofi Agyare, Opanin Kwabena Darkwah narrated further.
He continued that Napowaa was the mother of Afua Tuo and Ama Akyiamaa, who begot Kesewaa, Kofi Bebu and Amowaa, while Amowaa was the mother of Abena Fobi.
He said that Abena Fobi was his mother. She also brought forth Afua Tuo, mother of Twereboa Kodua III, Yaw Asare and Afua Nyamaa aka Frimpomaa, and Frimpomaa was the Mother of Nti Kwakye and Adwoa Aniwaa.
Mr. Darkwah told the council that his great grandmother by name Afua Nto brought forth Akosua Donko, Akua Tia and Nana Seth who became Twereboa Kodua IV, whereas Nyina Mpombi, sister of Nana Seth, gave birth to Brago, who was the mother Ama Fi.
Barima Sarfo Tweneboa and Otumfuo Osei Tutu II
Ama Fi was the mother of Adwoa Serwaa and Yamoa Ponko, and Adwoa Serwaa was the mother of Yaa Achiamaa and her sister by name Afua Tabi aka Boadiwaa and Akuoko, he recounted.
Giving further particulars, the Ananaya family head said Afua Tabi also brought forth Adwoa Pokuawaa, mother of Yaa Adoma, Yaa Adoma gave birth to Opanin Adusei and his sisters, including Akua Ago and the current chief of Ananaya.
Nwoa Nkonsa, the four child of Mpombi who was a sister of Nana Seth, was the mother of Fosuhemaa who brought forth Akosua-De, who married Nana Kwaku Dua I, the then Asantehene.
According to him, they brought forth a child by name Yaa Dufie, the mother of Adumenewa aka Brago who also married Otumfuo Prempeh I, and Brago was the mother of Nana Adwoa Serwaa Kabokyere, a queen mother of Kumawu.
She also gave birth to Nana Afua Sarpong, another queen mother of Kumawu, and her sisters. They constituted the Ananaya royal gate to the Kumawu stool, he added.
Opanin Darkwah disclosed that under the offspring of Seni Fotom was Tweabia Sanaa, mother of Nwoah who gave birth to Nyantakyiwaa, the mother Adwoa Mobi. Adwoa Mobi begot Kwame Okyere Baffour, Nyantakyiwaa and Nana Saa Donkyi.
Nyantakyiwaa brought forth Kwame Basowa and Benpomaa who was the mother of Oheneba Achia Banda, all currently residing at Sekyedumasi, he stated.
Opanin Darkwah said his great grandmother by name Sai Donkyi was the mother of Akosua Gyaama and Effah Kese, who gave birth to Boama Asiama, the mother of Achiamaa.
Nana Serwaa Amponsah, Kumawuhemaa
Achiamaa was the mother of Safowaa, Safowaa was the mother of Ntakyi Baasem, who also gave birth to Boatenmaa.
Common stock dispute
He traced the generation to Achiamaa Nyame under whose descendants the two parties diametrically differed in their family trees.
Defending her ancestral lineage to Twereboa Kodua, the Kumawuhenmaa insisted that members of the Ananaya family and those of Akanse as well as Odumase people were from a common stock, but got separated as a result of marriages.
According to her, Achiamaa Nyame, mother of Yaw Dabor, was the progenitor of the Ankase royal family, which had produced eight queen mothers out of 11 occupants – and six paramount chiefs with the majority of the black stools coming from Ankase clan.
She disputed claims by the Ananaya clan head that Otumfuo Osei Akoto married their great grandmother, Yaa Mansah, insisting that it was rather Otumfuo Osei Kwame.
Nana Amponsah explained that at the time Nana Yaa Mansah was the Kumawu queen mother the occupant of the golden stool was Osei Yaw Akoto.
Adjournments
The case travelled back and forth at the Asanteman council and witnessed several adjournments, one of which was as a result of the failure of the Kumasi right-hand chiefs to turn up for the arbitration.
This attracted lamentation from the Asante overlord, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who expressed misgivings about the development.
He stated that he wanted a speedy resolution of the Kumawu chieftaincy dispute to pave way for a new paramount chief to be installed, as Kumawu was one of the powerful arms of the Ashanti kingdom.
Witnesses called
When the case was resumed on August 12, 2013, the parties called witnesses to testify on their behalves to buttress their points of argument.
While the Ananaya family head, Opanin Kwabena Darkwah called the Akwamuhene of Kumawu, Nana Kwasi Baffoe II, as his witness, the Kumawuhemaa, Nana Serwaa Amponsah called the Gyasehene of Kumawu to testify on her behalf.
Both witnesses gave account as to how the Kumawu stool came to be and the various occupants and their lineages as traced by the contending parties, but failed to give vivid accounts of the real genealogy of the Kodua stool because they were outsiders.
The witnesses were cross-examined by the opposing sides as well as the chiefs of Asanteman, majority of whom chose to abstain when it came to the cross-examination of the Kumawu Gyasihene.
On several occasions, Akyeame of Asantehene dismissed leading questions of some of the chiefs which were upheld by the overlord, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II who presided over the case.
He asked the chiefs not to take sides on the Kumawu case so as to establish the truth of the royal lineage based on the evidence adduced, pointing out that it was the truth that could bring lasting solution to the dispute.
Verdict of chiefs
At the end of proceedings, all the chiefs, with the exception of chiefs of Kwaman and Nkosuo, voted in favour of Nana Serwaa Amponsah, indicating that the petitioner failed to prove his case against the defendant.
According to the chiefs, evidence before them indicated that the queen mother and her family members were no doubt the true sons and daughters of Twereboa Kodua, who founded Kumawu, after migrating to the then Apemso community from Ejura-Sekyedumase area.
They called for punitive action against Opanin Darkwah on what the chiefs considered to be a useless invocation of the Otumfuo’s great oath for a trivial matter.
Members of the Asanteman’s Kyidom were the loudest among groups of chiefs who were present on August 22, 2013 at the Manhyia Palace.
Others also called on the king to use his office and diplomacy to purge the opposing sides of any enmity since they were people from one common stock and blood.
Otumfuo’s judgement
In pronouncing his judgment, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II said he found a lot of inconsistencies in the accounts of both parties and their witnesses, which development blurred real truth, facts and history of the Kumawu royal family tree.
According to him, the petitioner could not call witnesses to testify that indeed the Kumawuhemaa and her family members were outsiders who were brought into the royal family by Barima Asumadu Sekyi I.
He asked the parties to go back and smoke the peace pipe, and tasked them to unite and look for the successor of Barima Asumadu Sekyi II who died some seven years ago, adding that there was no winner or loser in the case.
Otumfuo said he could not take punitive action against the Ananaya clan head because of the pact between Asanteman and founder of Kumawu, Twereboa Kodua.
The Asantehene made the opposing sides to embrace and shake hands after his final verdict that brought smiles on the faces of members of the royal family.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi