Atta Akyea reveals how he absconded to UK to avoid becoming Okyehene

Former Minister for Works and Housing under the Nana Akufo-Addo's first term and Member of Parliament for Akyem Abuakwa South Constituency, Samuel Attah Akyea has revealed the length he had to go to avoid been enstooled as the Okyehene.

According to the lawyer, he had to abscond to the United Kingdom following the death of his uncle and then Okyehene, Osagyefuo Kuntunkununku II in 1999.

As heir apparent to the throne coupled with his Christian faith he had to flee to the UK since he did not want to be the occupant of the Akyem Abuakwa stool.

“If you pay regard to the Christian principles, there is no invocation of the dead. We do not pray that Abraham should rise and come to our aid but in the traditional setting, we invoke the ancestors. There is ancestral worship and that is difficult to really marry the two,” he said in an interview on Citi TV.

According to the religious Attah Akyea, his Christian faith meant he never wanted to ascend to the throne as Okyehene.

“Eventually I believe the God of the Bible which will mean that I will not participate in the issues of the tradition to the point of evoking the river god, the Birim River, to the point of saying that today we are going to the stool room, we are going to go to the royal mausoleum we shouldn’t wear sandals and all that. I didn’t subscribe to that,” he noted.

He added that “the Okyenhene’s Office is a serious office in the sense of the traditional commitment. I didn’t see myself to that level.”

With his succession to the office of Okyenhene being a “fait accompli”, the MP said he was only able to swerve becoming the ruler of the Akyem kingdom by escaping to the UK even without informing his cousin and close confidant, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

“I escaped the situation, even without telling President Akufo-Addo I went to the UK… I fled and I did that without even telling my mother. I did it with my wife,” he said.

He revealed that as a potential leader of the Akyem Abuakwa kingdom, he was groomed for the position and had one of his relatives preparing him for the role.

He avered that besides rejecting the role due to his Christian faith, he also sought to avoid unnecessary competition as the current Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, who filled his stead, was equally qualified for the position.

“I didn’t want, excuse me to say, unnecessary competition when the present and current Okyenhene from my perspective was fit to step into the shoes of his brother,” he said.

On how his family reacted to his decision, he said his relatives thought he was getting mad and that saw him receiving a constant visit from some members of the family who travelled to the UK to get him to change his mind.

“They thought I was getting mad because that is the highest office that every royal would like to attain. So I had people coming to me. Some of the daughters of Ofori-Atta were there, a lot of people came to me that I shouldn’t take such a decision,” he recounted.