<<Print>>

Okyehene's accuser, Odehye Kwame Agyei Boateng, stormed Kyebi on Saturday, a day after the Abuakwa Traditional Council fined him 72 sheep and 36 cartons of schnapps for denigrating and desecrating the Ofori Panin stool. He went there ostensibly to swear the �Okyeman Ntamkese� oath right in front of the Okyenhene�s palace and dared Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin again to do same if indeed he did not know anything about the galamsey activities going on at Kyebi and its environs. Reacting to the fine that was imposed on him by the Abuakwa Traditional Council, Odehye Kwame Agyei Boateng said he would never pay any fine because the council had fined the wrong person. �The traditional council should rather fine the Okyenhene for the calamity he is bringing on the Abuakwa state and rather give me the 72 sheep and 32 cartons of schnapps to appease me for referring to me as a �nonentity� from Kyebi who does not matter in the Asona royal family,� he said. He therefore described the fine by the Abuakwa Traditional Council as the �biggest joke of the century�. Violence is said to have broken out after he had gone through the rituals by slaughtering a sheep and swearing the deity on Saturday. Daily Guide's information indicates that the youth were angered by the action of Odehye Kwame Agyei Boateng and attacked the constituency secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Bampoe, and his women�s organizer who were travelling in a Mitsibushi pick-up donated by the NPP Member of Parliament for the area, Samuel Atta Akyea. The group were said to have accosted the two who were in the car, flattened the tyres and mercilessly beat them up because, according to the youth, the NPP car was sighted at the palace where Odehye Agyei Boateng swore the deity to challenge the Okyenhene to prove his innocence in the illegal mining activities going on at Kyebi and its surrounding areas. Taking a political twist, they alleged that Hon Atta Akyea was part of what they described as a �conspiracy� to cause disaffection for the Okyenhene and that he (Atta Akyea), a royal from Ofori Panin Fie, was the one �hiding behind� Odehye Kwame Agyei Boateng to �disgrace� the Okyenhene. Odehye Kwame Agyei Boateng however told DAILY GUIDE yesterday that he was not being influenced by Atta Akyea or any other royal of the Asona family, saying he was very mature to know what was wrong or right. �In 1999, when I was about 32, I was nominated as one of the heirs to the Okyenhene�s stool and contested the stool with Amoatia Ofori Panin but Owuraku Amofa and his cohort who was then in political power favoured Amoatia Ofori Panin for him to be made the Okyenhene,� he alleged. He explained that there was no point in blaming Atta Akyea for his action and that if the youth or the people of Kyebi did not understand the reasons behind his actions, they should rather confront him and not anyone else. �I am concerned as a royal citizen of Kyebi and I strongly believe our ancestors will not even forgive us if those of us concerned about what is going on do not do anything about this disgraceful act of galamsey,� he said, alleging that even the royal cemetery at Banso was being desecrated with impunity as chainsaw operators had been felling trees indiscriminately at the �sacred� cemetery. He said the recent flooding in the Akyem area that was caused by the Birim river, as a result of illegal mining either along the banks of the river or on the bed of the river, should be a reminder that a greater �calamity� was awaiting Okyeman because the river god was angry over the destruction of the Birim river as a result of the galamsey operations in the Akyem state. �They are saying that Odwira festival would be celebrated this year so which water from the Birim would they use to bathe the Odwira?� he questioned, indicating that the elders who were watching all these �wrongs� to go on in the Abuakwa state would be made to answer one day by the ancestors. It would be recalled that at an emergency meeting by the Akyem Abuakwa Council on Friday, the council, which had summoned Odehye Kwame Agyei Boateng to come and substantiate the allegations made against Okyenhene, fined Odehye Agyei Boateng for failing to appear before it, denigrating the Ofori Panin stool and joking with the �Okyeman Ntamkese� on radio.