Omanhene of Akyem Bosome, queenmother ordered to be of good behaviour
The Akyem Oda District Magistrate’s Court has bonded the Omanhene of the Akyem Bosome Traditional Area, Okotwaasuo Kantamanto Oworae Agyekum III, and 15 others to be of good behaviour for one year to ensure peace and order in the area.
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Presided over by Mr Kwesi Appiatse Abaidoo, the court further directed that each of the bonded persons would serve three weeks imprisonment if they defy the order.
The other bonded persons are the Paramount Queenmother, Nana Kwatemaa Minkyim; Nana Obeng Asiedu I, Nana Appianing Kwaframoah, Kyidomhene; Obrempong Akomeah Biri, Gyaasehene; Odifor Attah Debrah and Odehye Kwame Pinkrah.
The rest are: Odehye Adwoa Nkrumah, Odehye Kwadwo Ntow, Odehye Debrah Bsompem, Nana Abrokwah Gyampim, Yaw Frimpong, Kofi Mensah, Kwame Asare and Afrifa Bredu.
Background
Giving the background to the case, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr Christopher Owusu, the Oda Divisional Crime Officer, told the court that for sometime now, there had been bad blood between the supporters of the Omanhene and the Paramount Queenmother.
On January 18, 2015, the Paramount Queenmother and her 12 supporting sub-chiefs and elders slaughtered a ram at Akyem Swedru to signify the destoolment of the Omanhene.
Mr Owusu said on that day, supporters of the two factions clashed, resulting in the death of one person while many others sustained various injuries.
The supporters of the Paramount Queenmother, in an attempt to forcibly remove the Omanhene from the palace, set the offices in the palace ablaze, thereby causing damage to the building and the documents in it.
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The prosecution said had it not been the timely intervention of the police and the military, more lives would have been lost.
According to the prosecutor, the Omanhene, the Paramount Queenmother and their supporters were put before the High Court at Koforidua, which restrained them from celebrating the Akwasidae which was slated for February 28 to March 1, 2015.
Mr Owusu said the restraining order helped to maintain the peace in the town since no sacred rite was allowed to be performed in the palace.
Since then the supporters of the Paramount Queenmother, he said, had vowed to clash with the Omanhene’s supporters any time he visits the palace.
He said the Omanhene, in a letter dated March 7, 2016 addressed to the Chairman of the Birim South District Security Committee, through the Registrar of the Akyem Bosome Traditional Council, stated his intention to celebrate the next Akwasidae at the main palace on Sunday, March 13, 2016.
Mindful of the High Court’s restraining order and the determination of supporters of the Paramount Queenmother to resist the Omanhene’s action, the police, Mr Owusu said, quickly arraigned the two parties and their supporters before the court for a restraining order to avoid a possible bloodbath.
Order
The Presiding Magistrate, Mr Abaidoo, ordered that the Omanhene could perform the rituals at his private residence but not at the palace.