Akwamuhene endorses compilation of Akwapem State Book

Okwapehene Oseadeeyo Kwasi AKuffo Akoto III, has commended officials of Ghana State Book Project for expressing interest in compiling the Akwapem State Book which will contain ancestral history of the Akwapem Kingdom.

The Okwapemhene, who described the Ghana State Book as the custodian of Ghana’s history made these remarks at his Tweriampon Palace in Akropong during the 2nd Traditional Council Meeting for the year 2023 where officials of Ghana State Book Project paid a courtesy visit to present the commemoration certificate to the King of the Akwapem Kingdom to signify the State Book Project’s readiness to kick start the documentation of the Akwapem State Book.

According to Oseadeeyo Kwasi AKuffo III, “the Akwapem Traditional State has for the past years been communicating with you, we were expecting you and here you are today. We appreciate your efforts so far and we believe your project in Okwapeman will be successful.

He charged the officials led by Bright Isaac Botchway, to discharge the duty with diligence, “do not dilute the informations or any accounts giving to you by the indigenous to the advantage of anybody, so that at the end of your project Okwapeman could boast of a state book which reflect and represent the true history of Okwapeman.

He charged the Royal families, Kingsmen, Chief’s and all his subjects of Okwapeman home and abroad to cooperate and support the officials of the Ghana State Book Project to produce an accurate and authentic State Book which will be accepted to be more or less the constitution of their kingdom,

“The book if completed I am told will be the reference book in solving every dispute in the Akwapem Kingdom ranging from chieftaincy through to land dispute among any other thing that relates to the traditions and customs of Okwapeman”.

Handing over the commemoration certificate to the Akwapemhene Oseadeeyo Kwasi Kwafo III, Bright Isaac Botchway the Coordinator of the Ghana State Book Project, observed that the documentation of the Okwapeman State Book has been long overdue as there is no or few written history of the kingdom which needs to be updated and that is what the Ghana State Book Project has come to do.

“This project seeks to gather and authenticate traditional histories towards creating a state book as reference materials for resolving chieftaincy, family and tribal disputes in the Akwapem Traditional State while making the information available fo public usage and for further reaching” he explained.

Educating the gathering on the objectives of the project he said
“Our primary objective is to document the histories of the royal families in the traditional area to avoid chieftaincy conflicts, land disputes, inheritance contestations among others by joining all pieces of histories together considering both written and unwritten as one cohesive and authentic history of the Akwapem’s while preventing misrepresentation in order to avoid misconception”.

He emphasized that the book after compaliation will provide the international community easy access to credible information about traditional histories and its cultural practices as well as producing a book that serves as a reference material for students, educational institutions, religious groups, research organizations and individuals for further research.

Botchway ceased the opportunity to establish some of their achievements since the creation of the office in 2006

“I am happy to inform your highness about some achievement of the Ghana State Book Project after its inception in 2006, has successfully produced five State Books which includes the Awutu State Book, Techiman State Book, Offinso State Book Hwidiem state book and that of Tepa state book. We are currently working on the Kwahu state book which was launched last year.”

He observed that writing down of the Okwapeman State Book will take the Ghana State Book at least two years to complete the documentation. He solicited the cooperation of the traditional authority, kingmaker, Royal families and indigence of Okwapeman to ensure smooth exercise.

By William Dei-Gyau