Originally named as Nana Kwaku Duah, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II is the son of the late Nana Asantehemaa, Nana Afia Kobi Serwaah Ampem II.
He was born in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region on May 6, 1950 and he is the youngest of five children of Nana Afia Kobi Serwaah Ampem.
His father, Nana Kwame Boakye-Dankwa, was from Kantinkyere in Ashanti Region, and was also the Brehyia Duke of Asante. At a very early age, Otumfuo was adopted by his Uncle, Oheneba Mensah Bonsu, Hiahene, who was one of the leading chiefs at the court of Manhyia. He took it upon himself to groom the young royal for the future.
Oheneba Mensah Bonsu was one of the main reconcilers at a time of great political turbulence in the relations between Ashanti and central government during the reign of Otumfuo Sir Osei Agyeman Prempeh II.
As part of the grooming process, Oheneba Mensah Bonsu, now deceased, decided not to send him to Prempeh College in Kumasi where most of the royals in Kumasi were being educated. Rather he sent him to the late Omanhene of Sefwi Wiawso, Nana Kwadwo Aduhene, who had him enrolled at Sefwi Wiawso Secondary School in 1964.
He returned to Kumasi to complete his ‘A’ Level at Osei Kyeretwie Secondary School.
Nana Kwaku Dua moved to Accra to begin an accountancy course at the Institute of Professional Studies, Legon, in 1971. In 1973, he proceeded to the United Kingdom (UK) where he studied first at Kilburn Polytechnic before enrolling at the University of North London for a Diploma in Public Administration.
He became a member of the Institute of Personnel Management in the UK in 1985. Nana Kwaku Dua worked as a finance officer at the Food Processing Company, Oxo in London and as a Personnel Administrator at the Manpower Services Commission attached to Brent Council.
In 1980, he moved to Canada and worked for a year as a senior consultant with the Mutual of Omaho Insurance Company of Toronto; he then participated in a company-sponsored course in insurance at the University of Toronto.
He returned to Ghana in 1989 to set up his own business—Transpomech International (Ghana) Limited—of which he remains the Executive Director. The company supplies mining equipment to mining companies. Looking at the region where he comes from, Nana Dua was brought up to avoid involvement in partisan politics and instead maintain a posture which should build bridges, heal wounds and help forge a collaborative effort towards the socio-economic development of Ashanti and Ghana. Nana is married to Yaa Akyaa, who has three children, Nana Afua Kobi, 23, Kweku Bonsu, 26, and Nana Kwadwo Bonsu, 4. His enstoolment makes him the 16th King of the Golden Stool and the 19th Asantehene. He succeeded his late Uncle, Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, who died on February 25, 1999 at the age of 80 after a short illness.
<<Print>>