Otumfuo turns 65
Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II is 65 years today.
A lot of well-wishers have been trooping to the Manhyia Palace in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi to pay homage to the Asante monarch. He has also been receiving a lot of calls from prominent people wishing him well.
The Government of the United States of America, through its embassy here in Ghana, has also wished him a happy birthday.
Barimma Kwaku Duah, as he was known before ascending the throne in 1999, succeeded the late Otumfuo Opoku Ware II.
The 16th King has led the Asante Kingdom for the past 16 years. One of the highlights of his reign has been the help he has offered a lot of needy students through the Otumfuo Education Trust Fund.
He has also established a lot of diplomatic relations between Ghana and countries in the West. Otumfuo recently rekindled relations with Seychelles, where his great uncle Asantehene, Nana Agyeman Prempeh I, was exiled together with his parents and 50 other chiefs, queen mothers and servants by the British colonial authorities for 27 years to the Islands.
