Otumfuo Osei Tutu II
One of the prominent chiefs at Manhyia, the seat of Asanteman, has said former President John Mahama will be shooting himself in the foot if he downplays the intervention of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II in preventing chaos after the heated 2016 general election.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu’s Mawerehene, Baffour Hyiaman Brentuo VI, insisted that Mr. Mahama and the NDC were showing ingratitude to the Asantehene and would pay dearly for it if they continued to undermine the king.
At the United Nations meeting in New York last week, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II recounted how he used his palace to defuse a charged atmosphere in Ghana and got then President Mahama to concede defeat in the 2016 general election.
Immediately the king made the statement, the office of the former President in a letter signed by his former Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, replied that “I state without equivocation that the decision to concede and congratulate Nana Akufo-Addo even before the official results were declared was taken by President Mahama himself without any persuasion from any quarter.”
The Asantehene’s spokesman recounted how the Otumfuo worked tirelessly to ensure that Ghana did not slip into chaos.
He said Otumfuo Osei Tutu had meetings with then President Mahama and NPP’s candidate Nana Akufo-Addo in his bid to ensure peace and stability in the country.
“The meeting was between then President Mahama and then Candidate Nana Akufo-Addo. Mrs. Charlotte Osei, former electoral commissioner, and Air Force Gen O.J. were witnesses of the meeting,” the Mawerehene revealed, adding “Mahama will be a colossal ingrate; even his appointment to Vice Presidency was mitigated by Otumfuo when Flt. Lt. Jerry Rawlings would not allow him to be the running mate to the late Prof. John Atta-Mills in 2008.”
“To call Otumfuo a liar or allow his cronies or to allow his people to disparage and pour vituperative on such a benefactor who went to the extent of accommodating you during your tenure as President is to say the least very regrettable and inexcusable,” he said.
He added, “As a politician, he should remember that the road to power does not pass through Manhyia Palace but definitely through the indivisible Asante Region where Otumfuo reigns, and that his people will always remember him as an ungrateful politician. He shouldn’t forget where he danced to the “Y3n ntieobiara” music to the chagrin of the broad masses of Asante people that won Manhyia Palace the displeasure of many Ghanaians. What a disgusting betrayal from a “son’’.