A tree that Asante tradition attributes to the legendary priest Okomfo Anokye has been uprooted by strong winds in Asante Agona, in Ghana’s Ashanti Region.
The tree fell on Tuesday, November 3, as powerful winds moved through the town ahead of rainfall. Video shared on X that evening showed the trunk split near its base, while residents gathered around the fallen tree.
Local accounts say Okomfo Anokye planted it around 1690, which would make it about 336 years old. That date has not been independently verified.
Some residents interpreted the tree’s position – with its roots exposed in the air and its crown resting on the ground – as a spiritual sign, according to Graphic Online.
Neither Manhyia Palace nor the traditional authorities in Agona had issued a public statement by Wednesday evening.
Tree linked to Asante history
Asante tradition identifies Okomfo Anokye as the priest who brought the Golden Stool down from the sky in the late 17th Century and placed it on the knees of Osei Tutu, the founder of the kingdom.
The stool is believed to embody the spirit of the Asante nation. Okomfo Anokye is also remembered as Osei Tutu’s diviner, diplomat and constitutional adviser, in addition to serving as his priest.
He is said to have originated from Awukugua in Akuapem. For his role in creating the union, he became Omanhene of Agona, north-east of Kumasi. His descendants later served Asante kings as diviners, according to the Encyclopaedia Africana.
Several trees feature in accounts of Okomfo Anokye’s life. He is said to have planted kumnini seedlings at Kwaman, Dwaben and Kumawu. Only the Kwaman tree survived, leading to the town being named Kumase, meaning “under the kumnini tree”.
A sword he is believed to have driven into the ground in Kumasi is preserved at a shrine on the grounds of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
The latest incident occurred three years after another tree associated with Okomfo Anokye disappeared. In November 2023, an unknown person cut down a cola tree overnight at Feyiase, on the Kumasi–Lake Bosomtwe road.
Legend says that tree grew at the spot where Okomfo Anokye spat out a cola nut he had been chewing. Pacification rites were held afterwards, while a 20-year-old driver accused of felling it pleaded not guilty at the Atasemanso Circuit Court.
Scientists from the CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana later grafted buds onto the remaining stump and wounded its roots in an effort to encourage new growth and revive the Feyiase tree.
Agona’s paramount stool, the Okomfo Anokye Amoampon stool, remained vacant after the death of Nana Frimpong Anokye Ababio in 2022. Kingmakers installed a successor in June this year.
The new Agonahene, Obiri Komfo Anokye Boakye, swore allegiance to Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at Manhyia Palace on Monday, June 29.
The Asantehene said the Agona stool was not ceremonial, but a position that “carries real responsibilities for safeguarding tradition, advising on matters of governance, and supporting the spiritual and cultural direction of the kingdom.”
