Vice President and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, led a government delegation over the weekend to pay their final respects to the late Paramount Chief of Sunyani, Nana Bosoma Asor Nkrawiri II, in Sunyani.
Accompanying the Vice President were his wife, the Second Lady Samira Bawumia; National Chairman of the NPP, Mr. Stephen Ntim; Bono Regional Minister, Justina Owusu-Banahene; Minister of Chieftaincy, Mr. Asamoah Boateng; Deputy Attorney General, Mr. Tuah-Yeboah, and Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr. Baffour Awuah.
The delegation also included other national and regional party executives, members of parliament, parliamentary candidates, ministers of state, and municipal and district chief executives of the party.
Mr. Baffour Awuah, who is also the MP for Sunyani West, conveyed President Nana Akufo-Addo’s condolences to the Boahene Korkor family, and supported the funeral with a donation of GH¢100,000.
This was in addition to another GH¢100,000 donated by the Vice President, totaling GH¢200,000 donated by Bawumia and the NPP. The government delegation also presented assorted drinks and packs of bottled water to support the funeral proceedings.
The late Sunyani Omanhene has been laid to rest, marking the end of one-week funeral rites. As per tradition, chiefs and mourners of the Sunyani Traditional Council donned black and red attire, lining up on the town’s main street amidst musket firing, drumming, and cultural displays.
A group of women with marks on their bodies made from red earth mixed with charcoal moved rhythmically through the town, tapping sticks on the ground amid singing.
Before the funeral ceremony, socio-economic activities in the Sunyani business community came to a halt as hundreds of people from various locations gathered at Nana Bosoma Asor Nkrawiri II Royal Palace to bid farewell to the late chief.
Nana Asor Nkrawiri II, known in private life as Christian Osei Kwakye, was a family man, married to Martha Adjei Nyarko and Janet Abena Mensah, with nine children. Enstooled as the Chief of Sunyani on Monday, March 17, 1980, he succeeded Nana Kwaku Yeboah, and the Sunyani stool was elevated to paramountcy in 1989.
During his 44-year reign, he brought peace, progress, unity, freedom, and development to his people. Landmarks such as the Regional Hospital (now a teaching hospital) and Nana Bosoma Market, were established under his leadership.
By Daniel Y Dayee, Sunyani