Kumasi (Ashanti), 25 March ’99 –
Workers and residents of Kumasi today declared an unofficial holiday to enable them to participate in the burial of the late Asantehene, Otumfuo Opoku Ware the second. All offices, shops and banks are closed and the Central market is also under lock and key in accordance with custom which forbids the sale of foodstuffs while an Asantehene lies in state. Any trader who ventures to the market or sells, does so at his or her own risk since on the day of burial, the princes and grandchildren of the king run through the main areas of the city to snatch livestock which have not been penned as well as the wares of those who sell. Traffic in and outside the city is just a trickle and those drivers who have ventured to work discharge passengers at points they consider safe enough from the city centre. People in the city centre queue to buy food from the few cooked food sellers who have ventured to prepare them. All the Asante paramount chiefs and the Kumasi chiefs swore the oath of allegiance to the late Asantehene this morning at Patokrom. At 12 noon, the body will be taken from there to the Saint Cyprian’s Anglican Cathedral for a burial service after which it will be sent to the royal mausoleum at Bantama for wreath laying. After that, it will be sent finally to Breman, for burial.
