 |
Fare thee well, Odeefuo Boa (Bɔ)
Amponsem III
Kofi Ellison
December 05, 2016
AGONA PIESIE aka nkyene
agu; ɔkɔ n’akuraa. Odeefuo Boa (Bɔ) Amponsem III,
Dankyirahene has passed on.
Nana Ama Ayensua Saara III, damirifa. AGONA PIESIE
(DankyBodwesanwoiraman), damirifa; AGONA MANU (Akyem Kotoku)
damrifa; AGONA MENSA (Asante ) damrifa; Nana Nkawiehene
damirifa; Nana Tafohene damirifa. Nana Asuonwunhene,
damirifa, Nana Fumasuahene, damirifa; Nananom Agnonafuo
nyinaa yɛ ma mo damirifa. Odeefuo Boa Amponsem III, due, ne
amanehunu.
As a member of the AGONA (Clan) Abusua ,
it is with a heavy heart that [we] speak of the passing of
Odeefuo Boa (Bɔ) Amponsem III, Omanhene of Dankyira. His
passing was officially announced at Dunkwa on Friday,
November 2, 2016. And, Efiada Dankyiraman happens to be the
Great Oath of Nana Dankyirahene, probably recalling the sad
day at Feyiase in 1701.
It was at Feyiase that the
decisive battle of the Asante-Dankyira War was fought in
1701. Feyiase subsequently gained the accolade, Akoyɛmu
(i.e. the battlefield). It is said in the Twi language that,
Odeefuo Dankyirahene “Ntim Gyakari asoa ne man akɔbɔ no wɔ
Feyiase. Literally, that he had led his nation into battle
at Feyiase, and witnessed its complete destruction.” Truth
be told, Odeefuo Ntim Gyakari, convinced of an easy victory,
was not at the battlefield. He was rather playing the Akan
traditional game of ‘Oware’ with his favourite wife, all
bedecked in gold.
Until 1701 when the Kingdom of
Dankyira was defeated by a coalition of fighters of Twi
speaking Akan states, who resented the despotic rule and
other indignities meted to them by Dankyira, Dankyira was
the most powerful Kingdom in the land. In an oft quoted
statement, a contemporary Dutch official named Bosman
observed in the 1680’s that, ‘Denkyira, elevated by its
great riches and power became arrogant that it [Dankyira]
looked on all other Negroes with contemptible eye, esteeming
them no more than slaves.’
Such was the confidence of
Dankyira, and the contempt it held for the vassal states
that, when informed of the preparations being made by a
coalition of his subject people to fight for their
independence, then Dankyirahene Boa Amponsem I
contemptuously dismissed the coalition as a faction that
would eventually amount to nothing, while insisting that:
‘Ɔsa nti, na ɛyinom aka wɔn ho abom yi,’ (the coalition had
formed to merely fight, and would be no match for mighty
Dankyira).
The war of independence took place during
the reign of Odeefuo Ntim Gyakari, successor to Boa Amponsem
I. The faction won, and the terminology ‘Ɔsa nti’ was turned
into Asante, and, as it is said, the rest is history.
Asante remained a threat to Dankyira and its capital
Abankesioeso near Dunkwa. In the Gyaman War, Dankyirahene
Kwadwo Tibu I had initially gone to assist Gyamanhene Kwadwo
Adinkra, but belatedly moved back when he saw the might of
the Asante Army under Asantehene Osei Tutu Kwame (Osei Bonsu
Panin). Kwadwo Adinkra was soundly defeated in the Asante-
Gyaaman War, of 1817-1818, much of Gyaaman territory is
currently located in the Ivory Coast with its capital of
Bontuku or Bondukou. The war is also remembered for the
style of cloth “Adinkra,” named after the defeated
Gyamanhene.
It was to forestall any further Asante
harassment that Dankyira wisely moved its capital from
Abankesieso, further south to a location which was described
as ‘Ɛha dwo kwa’ because they found the settlement so
peaceful and calm. It became known as DWOKA, later
anglicized as JUKWA (closer to Cape Coast).
In the
1940’s Dankyirahene Odeefuo Owusu Bore contemplated moving
the traditional seat Dankyira “Ahenkro” from Jukwa to
Dunkwa, the administrative capital. Unfortunately, he
abdicated, reportedly pressured by the government of Prime
Minister Nkrumah because of his vehement anti-CPP stand.
Nana Owusu Bore later became Nkawiehene in Asante. Nkawie
and Dankyira royalty have a very intimate family bond within
the Agona Clan. Therefore, it was left to his successor, the
young Odeeduo Boa Amponsem III to complete the move from
Jukwa to Dunkwa. Today, the Chief of Jukwa, who is of the
Oyoko Clan, is the Kyidomhene of Dankyira.
In spite
of the history, Asante and Dankyira remain the best of
friends. The arrival of Nana Dankyirahene and Nana
Dankyirahemaa to any event in Kumase is perceived as the
highlight of the occasion. Riding in palanquin to the beat
of Denkyira traditional drummers and Dankyirahene Ntahera
horn blowers, Odeeduo Boa Amponsem III and the Dankyirahemaa
(also riding in palanquin) were a sight to behold at the
funeral of Asantehene Opoku Ware II in 1999. There is mutual
respect and admiration. Odeefuo Boa Amponsem III was
enstooled in 1955. He served as the President of the
National House of Chiefs for a term beginning in 1999.
When in the 1990’s it became government policy to move
the National Cultural Centre founded in Kumase, to Accra;
attempts were also made to move the seat of the National
House of Chiefs from Kumase to Accra. Odeefuo Boa Amponsem
III eloquently opposed the proposed move, and convinced the
government that the seat of the National House of Chiefs,
belong in Kumase for ‘cultural, traditional and historic’
reasons.
Nana Ama Ayensua Saara III, Ahi ne Aha Nana;
Ako Nana; ‘Adawu, Dawu Denkyira, mene sono; Fɛntɛmfrɛm Ɔmene
Ɛsono; Agona Piesie, Nanahemaa, wo nananom se kosɛ…
Kofi Ellison
December 05, 2016
|
