Roots: The True Adonten Royal Family of Techiman in Ghana

By Charles K. Addo

Nature itself preserves idolatry. From the imposing mountains of the earth to the wondrous planets dancing above the skies, to which we quail in adoration, they represent idolatry of the infinite degree. Religion has transposed earthly idolatry into heavenly idolatry, and connects beliefs as acceptable facts.

The Greeks had Poseidon, their deity of the seas. The Chinese had their Guanyin, their deity of mercy. The Egyptians had Osiris, their deity of death. Ours had been Asubonten, our warrior deity, brought from Nyafuma and affiliated with the Adonten Stool.

Traditional inter-tribal war campaigns had four military formations, and the Adontenhene stayed in front and led the warriors.

Two Adonten Royal Gates emerged at the inception of the Stool some two centuries ago: the Nyafuma and the Aboabo Gates. Whereas the Nyafuma is the cradle of the Stool, the Aboabo has thrived, due to the Nyafuma’s lack of vigilance.

However, the preeminent blackened Stool in the Adonten Stool room still remained that of the Founding Adontenhene, Tomfuor Nana Kwabena Kra, from the Nyafuma Royal Family. This makes the Nyafuma Family eternally inerasable.

The Takyiman State Book was gracious to admit that the Adontenhene Royal Family originated from Amowi and settled in Nyafuma in Nkoranza, before relocating to Tunsuase in Techiman.

And, as if by design, the Asubonten Manu deity provides the ‘living’ proof of the true Nyafuma Royal Family, through its traditional ritual engagements with the Adonten Stool.

This book traced the true Adonten Royal Family through the First Adontenhene Tomfuor Nana Kwabena Kra, and his four sisters, Asabea, Amoakowaa, Amobea, and Asiraa.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781532094958

Charles K. Addo

Charles K. Addo, PhD, is a former Lecturer at Catholic University in Ghana and Mercy College in the USA. He is the proprietor of OMIS, a basic school in Techiman, Ghana. He has published several books.

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Copyright © 2020 Charles K. Addo.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-9494-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-9495-8 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 02/10/2020

CONTENTS

Foreword

Acknowledgments

List of Tables

List of Figures

CHAPTER ONE

1.1   Preamble

1.2   Why Raise this Issue about the True Adonten Royal Family?

1.3   Who is Bosomfuor Nana Yaw Badu?

1.3.1   Komfuor Ama Fentim: great grandmother of Bosomfuor Nana Badu

1.3.2   Komfuor Adwoa Akumsa: biological grandmother of Bosomfuor Nana Badu

1.3.3   Bosomfuor Kofi Donkor: grandfather of Bosomfuor Nana Badu

1.3.4   Bosomfuor Yaw Mensah: uncle of Bosomfuor Nana Badu

1.4   Author Comments

CHAPTER TWO

2.1   Preamble

2.2   The Takyiman State Book Account of the Adonten Royal Family

2.3   My Involvement in this Book Project

2.4   Author Comments

CHAPTER THREE

3.1   Preamble

3.2   Approach and Definition of Terms

3.2.1   Meaning of Some Akan Language Words

3.2.2   Categorization of Relatives

3.2.3   Target Participants and Type of Information Recorded

3.3   Author Comments

CHAPTER FOUR

4.1   Preamble

4.2   Interview with Bosomfuor Nana Yaw Badu at Tunsuase in Techiman

4.3   Historical Account by Bosomfuor Nana Yaw Badu

4.4   Author Comment

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1   Preamble

5.2   Interview with Obaapanin Akosua Antwiwaa of Nyafuma in Nkoranza

5.3   Historical Account by Obaapanin Akosua Antwiwaa

5.4   Author Comments

CHAPTER SIX

6.1   Preamble

6.2   Interview with Opanin Kwabena Mensah at Aboabo in Techiman

6.3   Historical Account by Opanin Kwabena Mensah

6.4   Author Comments

CHAPTER SEVEN

7.1   Preamble

7.2   Interview with Adontenhene Nana Asare Twi Brempong II at Tunsuase in Techiman

7.3   Historical Account by Nana Asare Twi Brempong II

7.4   Author Comments

CHAPTER EIGHT

8.1   Preamble

8.2   Selected Review of Some Accounts by the Takyiman State Book, Bosomfuor Nana Yaw Badu, and the Literature

8.3   The Family Tree of the Nyafuma Royal Gate

8.4   The Four Sisters of Tomfuor Kwabena Kra and Offspring

8.5   The Marital Record of Tomfuor Kwabena Kra

8.6   Author Comments

8.7   The Way Forward

FOREWORD

The objective of this book was to investigate the historical inaccuracy in some of the accounts given by the Takyiman State Book, and set the records straight, regarding the Nyafuma Royal Family of the Adonten Stool.

Four main individuals were interviewed and audio-visual recorded. Due to the inherent limitations of ‘oral tradition’ history, this study could not meet the usual test of stringent scientific inquiry. For example, the interview questions could not be structured or made uniform for all the participants. Nevertheless, they offered good enough pointer as to the true Royal Family of the Adonten Stool.

Matters of Stool ascension have little to no place at this stage of my life. However, my objective, similar to the objective of the Takyiman State Book, is to assist in the accurate recording of history regarding the true Adonten Royal Family. Too often, chieftaincy matters, particularly rights of ascension to Stools, have shown to be major sources of conflict and instability in Ghana.

This book contains four main sections for each chapter: (1) a preamble providing an overview of the chapter; (2) the name of person interviewed, place, persons present, date, time, and visual records, or other topics of interest pertaining to the chapter; (3) key points made by person interviewed in enumerated format or other topics of interest pertaining to the chapter; and (4) author comments presented in a prose form or arguments about the incisive probing questions that may have elicited certain responses from the person interviewed, or other topics of interest pertaining to the chapter.

The only exception is Chapter Eight where I have added The Way Forward section after author comments. This was intended to highlight the importance of this section.

Unavoidably, certain words in the Akan language were employed, sometimes interchangeably, with the English language equivalent. For example, Adontenhene has been interchanged with Adonten chief, but the more appropriate and effective word is Adontenhene, which may not be understood by non-Akan language readers. But explaining them each time they are used would render the text too wordy. I have, for this reason, provided as much as possible their English language equivalents in Chapter Three.

Admittedly, I was most reluctant to be involved in this project, and sought to palm it off, probably just like my ancestors had done for the sake of tranquility. But we owe a duty to posterity; to document the true historical events, without fear or favor.

A tale, recounted with candor and fervor by a fetish priest, whose major duty it is to minister unto the Adonten Stool deity cannot simply be ignored. For he represents, in some respects, the soul of the Stool, and generally plays advisory role to occupants of the Stool.

Similarly, a tale recounted by a 93-year old biological sibling of a late Adontenhene and a member of the beneficiary Aboabo Royal Family, of inaccurate historical records that sidelined the Nyafuma Royal Family of the Adonten Stool, cannot equally be ignored.

As a young lad growing up in Tunsuase in Techiman, I never suspected my Nyafuma Family’s connection to the Adonten Stool. Occupants of the Stool from the Aboabo Royal Family, succeeded in brainwashing us with the tale of our ancestral origins from Nyafuma in Nkoranza, and that we had settled in Tunsuase as guests of the Adonten Stool. It now appears that the table was deliberately switched to achieve a sidelining purpose.

My ancestors settled with our deity, Asubonten Manu. We were told that our great grandfathers were two close relatives who left Nyafuma for Tunsuase; one taking the deity and the other taking the chieftaincy. That was all we knew, and nobody probed further, as we took it at face value.

But now, truth appears to be crying aloud from its grave, that its sanctity has been violated, and the lifting of the veil of Isis is imminent.

The house that I grew up at Tunsuase belonged to my great grandfather, Nana Kwame Amponsah, so my ancestors recited to me. He was a biological nephew of Tomfuor Nana Kwabena Kra, the founder of the Adonten Stool. Oral history said he was brave and skillful in forging iron into guns and swords, hence his name Tomfuor or blacksmith.

He was an eminent blacksmith at Tomfuor-ase or Tunsu-ase, meaning the workshop of the blacksmith. Nana Kwame Amponsah also had a biological nephew called Bosomfuor Nana Kofi Donkor that I had the privilege to meet in his lifetime. Bosomfuor Donkor was the fetish priest of the Asubonten Manu deity.

The house was directly behind the Adonten Stool house. Most of the column of houses lined up behind the Stool house belonged to my great grandmothers and great grandfathers. Asubonten Manu was resident in the house of my biological great grandmother, Komfuor Ama Fentim, who was the fetish priestess.

Our playgrounds under the moonlight were streets in-between those column of houses. We sang to the tune and choruses of Aato w’akyiree … aayee and the so so yi mpenaa…Mayiw, as little boys and girls. Childhood was wonderful, with less societal demands. But it did not stay that way very long.

Some of our great grandfathers were pre-occupied with their blacksmith vocation. Others too were equally pre-occupied with the patron deity, Asubonten Manu. They believed that the deity held all the answers to our protection and financial wellbeing, as clients visited in droves, seeking both spiritual and physical healings. Chieftaincy was not as lucrative, until quite recently, when rapid population growth placed increased demands on Stool Lands.

Over two centuries later, it appears our ancestral spirits are finally stirring up in their graves, nudging and reminding us about what we had completely neglected in the past -- what had always been ours!

It appears, the riddle of the two Nyafuma Family members who left Nyafuma in Nkoranza for Tunsuase in Techiman; one taking the deity and the other taking the chieftaincy, is really the story of Nana Kwaa Asubonten (aka Nana Kwadwo Owusu), who took the Asubonten Manu deity, and Tomfuor Nana Kwabena Kra, who settled for the Adonten chieftaincy. They were both