Kumasi, Jan 16, – President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday joined a huge crowd of mourners, who thronged the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi to bid farewell to the late Asantehemaa, Nana Afua Kobi Serwaah Ampem II.
He was accompanied by his Ministers-designate and some Members of Parliament (MPs).
Also present to commiserate with the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and the Asanteman, were other high profile personalities including former President John Agyekum Kufuor, celebrated Ghanaian Diplomat, Mr. Kofi Annan, Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood and Togbe Afede XIV, President of the National House of Chiefs.
The deceased was the biological mother of the reigning Asante King.
Installed in 1977, she was the 13th Asante Queen, and died at the ripe age of 111.
Her body would lie in state for four days for people from across the country and beyond to pay their last respects.
The funeral is being held amid tight security – strong presence of police and military officers, as the large crowd of people clad in black and red, signifying their somber mood, stood in long snaking queues to file past the body.
The beauty of Asante royal funeral was at full blast with traditional drummers and dancers putting up intricate performances amid the clattering of executioner’s swords.
The air intermittently had been filled with deafening sounds of the firing of musketry, while the traditional priests and priestesses did their own things – esoteric rituals.
Teams of health professionals alongside the Red Cross Society and the Saint John’s Ambulance and the Ghana National Fire Service are also on hand to respond to any emergency.
The mortal remains of the late Asantehemaa would be laid to rest at the Royal Mausoleum at Bremang, deep in the night on Thursday.
GNA
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