Asanteman was Effortlessly Formed at a time US Struggled for Unity- Otumfuo
The King of the Asante Empire, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has taken the world back in time to catch a glimpse of the undiluted and rich history of his enviable Kingdom formed centuries ago by men of foresight and insight.
According to him, the Kingdom was seamlessly forged by formally uneducated leaders at the same time the United States of America was struggling to be the United States we know today.
Delivering a lecture at the British Museum in London in the United Kingdom under the theme “Asante Heritage: Past and Present”, he said the creation of the Asante State was a creative response to the imperative of warfare in the dangerous period in history.
“The coming together of smaller states, sharing a common language to forge a union capable of defending their independence and advancing their wellbeing was an act of immeasurable creativity and statecraft.
“If as we are told in history, the specifics of place and period are critical, then we should not forget that my great-great-granduncle Opemsuo Osei Tutu and his advisor Okomfo Anokye were creating deep in the forest zone of West Africa a union of states of real consequences during the same epoch when the federalist and confederalists were struggling to create the federal union which is United States of America.”
Highlighting how the Kingdom stood the test of time and the political evolution without losing its essence, Otumfuo admired and expressed how proud he was of his forefathers for their dexterity.
“The convergence of these objectives within the same epoch in time, I suggest deserves historical acknowledgement. The power of the alphabet which is writing and reading had not yet penetrated the forest zone and none of the chiefs gathered together had received any form of formal education, which would have influenced their thinking.
“It therefore speaks to their innate wisdom and creativity in embarking upon this exercise of nation building and yet the union state they created with the monarch at the apex and the Golden Stool as the unifying emblem has endured through all the changing times to this day in our own reign.”
