A pressure group calling itself ‘Asante Kotoko Society’ has reminded Akwasi Addae Odike that no matter his background, as a citizen of Adwumakasekese, he was not above sanctions, noting that his claim of pardon in advance was a palpable fallacy.
“You (Odike) are not immune to sanctions,” the statement by the Asante Kotoko Society emphasised.
The group has also expressed dismay at what it called the “ignorant support” for businessman cum politician Akwasi Addai, aka Odike, for allegedly directing his effusions and tantrums at Manhyia, the seat of the Asante King.
The group, reacting to a recent claim of retraction of his statement against Manhyia and Asanteman, said Odike’s assertion that as a citizen of Adumakasekese he stood to be pardoned, no matter his offence, showed that he meant every word that he said on the local radio station, during which he created the impression that Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who rules over 70 paramount chiefs of different tribes, was complicit in illegal mining activities, inviting cynics whose past-time activities were to pour unwarranted vituperation on Manhyia without any apparent reason.
“By his unwarranted effusions and tantrums, Odike has opened the floodgates for people of questionable characters and backgrounds to say all sorts of unprintable things about the Asantehene and Asanteman,” a statement issued in Kumasi yesterday, and signed by Messrs Charles W. Nuako and Osei Bonsu Safo-Kantanka, President and Organiser respectively of Asante Kotoko Society, said.
The group, therefore, bemoaned that Odike, who they described as a failed politician, did not know that mineral resources were vested in the State, and that no chief or traditional ruler in the country had the power to stop mining.
“It is surprising to note that Odike does not know how concessions are given in Ghana. The Minerals Commission issues licences to operators without reference to the chiefs. No chief has the power to stop any operator from prospecting and mining, once a licence has been issued from Accra,” the group explained.
The Asante Kotoko Society noted that it was wrong for Odike to attack Manhyia instead of the government, because, per Act 257 (6), minerals on the surface or beneath the soil/land were vested in the President in trust for the people of Ghana.
The group cautioned Odike, who prides himself as an Asante citizen, to be mindful of the fact that Asante tradition and culture do not permit sons and daughters of Asanteman to discuss with evil intent the Golden Stool and Asantehene in public, and that any attempt to disparage or make statements pregnant with innuendoes was tantamount to bringing the two institutions to public ridicule and contempt.
