The Herald, has picked signals about rising tension in Offinso over a meeting that is to happen at Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, tomorrow to be presided by the Otumfuo, Osei Tutu II.
The meeting has been summoned by the Asantehene, to receive and deliberate on a report from a five-member committee he put together to investigate the lineage of all the 18 candidates who have stepped forward to succeed Nana Wiafe Akenten III, the late Paramount Chief of Offinso Traditional Area in the Ashanti Region.
But ahead of the meeting, which promises to be heated, there are claims of huge sums of money, exchanging hands among members of the committee to endorse a particular candidate making the rounds, casting doubt on their work.
While, some were said to have rejected the cash outrightly, others were mentioned as having pocketed the money and read to play ball with the givers.
The committee is made of the Yamfohene, Atwimamahene, Kaasehene, Ofumanhene with Kumawuhene as the chairman.
There are allegations in the Offinso town that some of the committee members, have been approached by one of the claimants to the stool with money, but while some rejected, others took the money and are ready to do the bidding of those who offered the money.
This paper’s sources in the Manhyia Palace who are familiar with the controversy surrounding the Offinso stool told The Herald that the Asantehene has picked up the reports of money exchanging hands and had sent a strong warning to the members of the committee to do a clean job and live above reproach.
Nana Wiafe Akenten III, who reigned for 28, passed on Saturday, October 2, 2021 at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, where he was receiving treatment after a protracted illness, but finding his successor has been flout with confusion with several protests in the town against the Queenmother, Nana Ama Serwaa Nyarko.
She has been accused of preferring and imposing Dr Kofi Koduah Sarpong, former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), who is said not be qualified to sit on the stool, because he is not a royal and not from the town.
The Queenmother, who is said to be backed by the Gyaasehene, Nana Kofi Tabi II, to impose an unqualified candidate on the town, according to The Herald’s sources, has caused tension to be simmering in the otherwise peaceful town of Offinso in Ashanti Region.
Additional information picked up by The Herald is that one Nana Kusi Appiah, the Mansokwantahene, is brazenly behind the schemes for the ex-GNPC boss to have access to the stool.
Meanwhile, at Offison, the paper is informed that many residents in and outside the place are waiting with bated breath on the outcome of the committee’s meeting with the Asantehene to inform the next line of action.
Most townsfolk see Dr Sarpong, who recently built a plush mansion in the town as a usurper, insisting he is from the Beposo Asona Royal family and not from Dwamena and the Wiafe Stool of Offinso.
They asserted that he is from Beposo, a town in the Bosomtwe District of the Ashanti Region, where his parents and other relatives are buried, and where he stands a better chance of becoming a chief.
