Otumfuo Osei Tutu II
There is this pronouncement by the people of Kumasi which goes like this, “As for we the people of Ashanti Region, apart from the Otumfuo, Asante Kotoko, the NPP and our Star Beer, we don’t care about anything. If you know you can’t live with us, move” (Yen Asantefuor die, se woyi Otumfuo, Asante Kotoko, NPP ne ye Star Beer, yenfa hwee ho. Se wontumi ne yen tena, tu).
They cannot be far from right. They worship the Otumfuo like an idol, Kotoko like their soul, the NPP like their blood, and they really love the Star beer which is produced in Kumasi more than any type of beer. They are like the Israelis and their Tora.
Barely one year after mounting the Golden Stool, the people of Kumasi started referring to Otumfuo Osei Tutu as King Solomon. I did not understand them. In school, I studied Bible Knowledge (BK) and also read The History Of Israel so I know a lot about the exploits of King Solomon, the son of Bathsheba and King David.
When I heard the people of Kumasi calling their king Solomon, I quickly searched for the History Of Israel from my private library and fortunately I found the dusty old book in the shelve and quickly pulled it out, dusted it and sat down to start reading the book again. I wanted to refresh my mind on the wisdom of Solomon.
As I decided to follow the exploits of Otumfuo and as the years rolled by, I came to understand why they call him King Solomon. In fact, I have been following the way he settles chieftaincy disputes brought before him at the Manhyia Palace. The rulings he deliver makes me wonder how the man could easily navigate the thorny issues of the tradition and history of the Asante people.
On many occasions, losers of cases he ruled walk away smiling because they agreed with his ruling. Unlike some chiefs who could easily be bribed into making wrong decisions, you can’t bribe the Otumfuo. After all, how much do you have which is more precious than the Golden Stool?
Since he mounted the throne, all presidents who have come and gone, visit him to seek for his knowledge, advice and wisdom. He doesn’t mince words when he admonishes a president, and he looks into their faces and tell them the truth. He doesn’t need your V8 car like Asomasi who rules a town somewhere in the Bono Region, doing his dirty politics even though he is a lawyer who is supposed to know better. What type of V8 car is more costly than the Asantehene’s Rolls-Royce (AS 1)?
Listen to Otumfuo when the President went to Kumasi recently to commission the Genser Energy Gyegyetreso Gas Pipeline at Anwomaso, “The government’s role should primarily be in policymaking rather than directly setting up and managing companies.” The king said the ECG, VRA, and GRIDCo in particular should be given to private entrepreneurs to operate. I wholeheartedly agree with King Solomon. The Otumfuo’s proposal is very different from what the late Rawlings and his (P)NDC did to Ghana for the nearly twenty years that the junta usurped power and misruled the country.
During the wish-to-be-forgotten one man show of Rawlings, more than three hundred factories and businesses established by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Professor Busia were arbitrarily sold to cronies who never continued with the operations of these factories and business, but immediately collapsed them when they took control.
The Akosombo Textiles, Juapong Textiles, Kade Match Factory, Samiraboi Plywood factory, Tema Food Complex, Takoradi Cocoa Factory, Wenchi Tomato Factory, Pwavlugu Tomato Factory, Bolgatanga Meat Factory, Tarkwa BonsaTyres, Aboso Glass Factory, Saltpond Ceramics, and numerous businesses were sold to persons we did not know.
The only one we know is the Nsawam Cannery which was sold at give-away price to the wife of Mr. Rawlings, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings. As for the twenty cargo ships owned by the Ghana Black Star Line and its properties, only God knows who bought them.
The ten regional Catering Rest Houses vanished into thin air, and Atlantic Hotel in Takoradi, City Hotel in Kumasi, Meridian Hotel in Tema, Ambassador Hotel in Accra and many more were left to rot away. In the case of the Otumfuo’s proposal, he wants the government to allow private entrepreneurs to manage state owned enterprises so that the government could play a supervisory role. Simplista!
Anytime I pass by Graneda and Paloma hotels in Accra which built and owned by private entrepreneurs many years ago, I wonder why all our government first class hotels cold not survive after they were sold. And when I see the ‘skeleton’ of Meridian Hotel in Tema, I curse the day I was born in Ghana.
That was where we used to do our ‘Swinging Safari’ in our salad years. Oh, nostalgia, where has thou flown to? Can you imagine the number of persons employed in these defunct factories, hotels and other businesses? That is why I get ants in my pants anytime I hear NDC apparatchiks complaining of unemployment in this land of our death. Na who cause am?
When Nana Addo told Ghanaians that he was going to build one factory in one district, he did not say it was the government that will build the factories alone. He talked of the private sector being supported by the government to embark on the projects and true to that many factories have been built and handled by private investors.
Wise men think before they talk; people with low IQ talk before they think. That is why Opana said he will be distributing piglets and day-old chicks for Ghanaians to rear when he comes back to power. Full stop!!!
By Eric Bawah