Has Asantehene Learnt a Lesson the Hardest Way?

?It is said, "Lightning never strikes the same person twice". However, lightning has been striking the luckless Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, more than thrice, if not repeatedly. Oops! He is being accused of one blunder or another all of the time. Why is it so? Why is he the only one but not any other Ghanaian chief, be the one an "Omanhene, Odikro" or whatever? ?I hope no-one will hasten to put up a baseless defence on his behalf evoking the usual Ghanaian parlance of, "Ommama ho ye ahi". Literally translated as, "people are jealous of him because of his wealth or eminence hence, the hatred, and propensity to soil his reputation by resorting to all the unfounded allegations levelled against him". ? Is it also not said, "There is the slightest truth in every rumour?" Would people just imagine things, come up with rumours aimed at tarnishing the hard won reputation of the Asante Overlord just for the love and sake of it? Instead of doing forensic analyses of the rumoured allegations against him, to arrive at the conclusive truth or the falsity of the allegations, we have people rallying to his defence, and others castigating him, at the mere hearing of the allegations. ? I do not care whichever side one jumps to depending on their reasons, whether born out of parochial-mindedness of, "I am an Ashanti so I have to rally support for him regardless of what he does, "ye Nana Otumfuo ye gyegye ne so, oye bone a yerenka" – (He is our chief, we adore and pamper him, we shall not chastise him even when he errs), or, born out of critical desire to correct him by weaning him off roguishness. ? It hurts to tell the truth but in the end it brings comfort. There are certain things which do not add up when people rush out with flimsy excuses and threats in attempts to exonerate Otumfuo Osei Tutu II of the recent serious allegation of involvement in bribery against him. If he had done as alleged, intervening maliciously to have some judges influenced by the offer of bribe to cast their votes on the side where they had not initially intended, then, may he be held answerable to God, the gods and the Golden Stool that he sits on? ? Barely had the rumour of his mischievous engagement in bribery as aforementioned resumed recession, when another one cropped up that he flew out of the country in the wake of the corruptibly disgraceful Supreme Court verdict by Justice William Atuguba, to the United Kingdom, London of course, aboard the Presidential jet. Why did he travel out of the country on the presidential jet and how often does he travel out on the jet? When, how and who, offered him that privilege to travel on the jet? Is the same courtesy extended to other chiefs, if no, then why? ? ? The suspicion of many a Ghanaian has raised when digging deeper into finding the truth about whether or not Asantehene assisted the respondents in Election 2012 Supreme Court petition to grease the palms of some unwilling Supreme Court judges to vote the direction they did - to reaffirm the election of John Dramani Mahama? The observation of many a Ghanaian, following the real-time (live) recording or telecast of the Supreme Court proceedings on Election 2012 petition clearly indicated that the petitioners won the case. How then did the judges come up with that shameful miscarried verdict? ? For me to believe that Otumfuo Osei Tutu II never bribed the judges as alleged, he MUST invoke some powerful fetishes to clear his name of any wrongdoing. It is not all fetishes that we can trust. Some probably may be as corrupt as the people in Ghana and may easily be bought over. Why not? If a fetish can assist an armed robber to be successful in his trade, why should I accept such a "Kalabule" fetish’s invocation as a means of exonerating the invoker of a blame of crime of which he/she is alleged of having committed? ? Is he ready to invoke a no-nonsense fetish in Ekumfi in the Central region? This fetish, I understand, strikes the guilty ones with death within a week of its invocation. Asantehene can invoke any fetish of his choice not only to clear his name but to task the fetish to punish the originators of the allegation if they are lying just to tarnish his hard earned reputation. The originators can also invoke any spirit they deem powerful to insist on the veracity of their accusatorial bribery mediation by Otumfuo Osei Tutu II to secretly overturn the judges' verdict prior to the judgment being made public.?How Justice William Atuguba delivered his preposterous 3 to 5 minute judgment without full judgment statement that only became available five days afterwards, after holding the audience and litigants in suspense for almost four hours on 29 August 2013, speaks volume about how flawed and malicious the verdict was. No wonder that many believe something fishy mighty have taken place. No wonder again therefore that many are peeved if indeed, Asantehene had a malevolent role to play in the whole saga. ?I pray it is never true as alleged but if it was, I would really be annoyed. I hope Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, would start taking steps to reverse his calamitous fate bedevilled by prejudices. He was once accused of dealing in cocaine. He is accused of not giving a hoot about settling properly the internal chieftaincy wrangling within the various principalities in Asanteman. Not long ago, he messed up a chance to finding a permanent solution to the Kumawu chieftaincy dispute. For either his lack of knowledge of Kumawu history or a deliberate action on his part to cause unease among the inhabitants of the area, he pronounced a verdict similar to that of Justice William Atuguba, flawed and mischievous. What about the misfortune that befell him in Norway - the missing antique Asanteman/Asantehene jewels? ?In the heels of the above problems, then cometh the bribery and the presidential jet issues. Why only you, oh the Great King of Asanteman? His supporters and enemies alike should please think hard about the question. ?I do not trust the strong face and defence the Asanteman Council are putting up on his behalf. Are they doing so because he wept before them, then accused them of not putting up a robust defence on his behalf while away in Norway and was accused of selling some "Nananom/Asantehene’s cultural jewellery-artefacts when indeed the jewels had been stolen by some thieves in Norway? They should wait for him to return home from his sojourn in London/Luton for a month to tell the whole country what really happened if people will believe him at all. ? ? I think the damage control the Asanteman Council is doing to minimise the negative effect of the allegation on Otumfuo and Asanteman is being eroded by the threats issued to Kessben FM by the Kumasi Zongo Community or the sacking of the programme presenters. Anyway, I will not add my personal views today but may do so another time or day. ? ? Rockson Adofo?