Asantehemaa Nana Konadu Yiadom dies at 98 - One-week observance on August 21
The Asantehemaa, Nana Konadu Yiadom III, has passed away at age 98.
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, officially announced her passing on Monday during an Asanteman Council meeting at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.
The one-week observance will be held on Thursday, August 21, 2025.
The purpose of the meeting, which was convened on August 7 at the instance of the Asantehene, was not clear, although paramount chiefs, divisional and sub-chiefs in Asanteman had been invited.
Announcing Nana Yiadom’s death to the council, Otumfuo Osei Tutu said she fell ill on the morning of Thursday, August 7, 2025, but passed on, sadly, later in the afternoon.
The Asantehene said he was preparing to travel abroad, but after hearing of the Asantehemaa’s demise, he thought it wise to officially inform Asanteman as tradition demanded, because she had served the Kingdom well since her enstoolment.
“For the past eight years, she served with diligence and also worked well with all the chiefs within the Kingdom,” Otumfuo said. He gave an assurance that all the necessary preparations would be made known to them.
He also informed the council that at exactly 12 p.m. on Thursday, August 21, 2025, the council would converge on the Manhyia Palace to observe the one-week passing of the queen.
Procession to Nana Yiadom’s palace
After the solemn announcement and brief council meeting, all the chiefs who attended the meeting joined the Asantehene in a procession to the palace of the Asantehemaa.
According to information gathered, the visit was to allow Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and the other chiefs and queenmothers, who were all in black cloth, to commiserate with the royal family of the Asantehemaa and the elders at the palace.
The meeting attracted hundreds of ordinary residents to the palace who were there ostensibly to confirm unofficial reports of the Asantehemaa’s death.
Profile
Nana Yiadom III was born in 1927 to Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem III, the 13th Asantehemaa who reigned from 1977 to 2016, and Opanin Kofi Foffie, also known as Koofie or Keewuo, a carpenter from Besease near Atimatim, a suburb of Kumasi.
The 14th Queen of Asanteman was the firstborn of Asantehemaa Nana Afia Kobi’s five children, the youngest of whom is Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
Teen rites/marriage
O-B Safo Kantanka, popularly known as Teacher Kantanka, writes that when she was a teenager, traditional puberty rites were performed to usher her into womanhood.
After that, she married Opanin Kwame Boateng, a blacksmith, who hailed from Aduman, near Kumasi.
At a very early age, just when she was a little over a year old and still being breastfed, Nana Panin was and given to her aunt (mother’s sister), Nana Afia Konadu, at Ashanti New Town (Ash-Town), a suburb of Kumasi.
Nana Yiadom III, known in early life as Nana Panin, was well educated at the palace, although she did not go through any formal education.
In 1959, when she was about 22, Nana Panin was christened and baptised into the Saviour Church of Ghana with the Christian name, Ruth.
She was also an Anglican by convention, as every Asantehene or Asantehemaa is an automatic member and patron of the Anglican Church.
Career
By occupation, Nana Konadu Yiadom III was a caterer who specialised in local dishes.
She was also into food crop farming and petty trading.
Teacher Kantanka said her hobbies were cooking, music and dance.
In 2016, when her mother, the Asantehemaa Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem III, passed at the age of 109 years, Nana Ama Konadu (Nana Panin) was chosen to take her place on February 6, 2017, with the stool name Nana Ama Konadu Yiadom III.
This fulfilled the prophecy of the Kwaku Firi Shrine through Baafuo Osei Akoto, a senior Linguist of the Asantehene.
During her reign from 2017 to 2025, Nana Konadu Yiadom III was known to be fair, firm, honest and a good advisor.
She had her court, and all her judgements were hailed as fair. Nana Konadu Saviour School at Bonwire, established by the Saviour Church of Ghana, was named after her.
Writer’s email: gilbert.agbey@graphic.com.gh
