The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, on Monday destooled the Queen of Atwima, Obaapanin Asamoah Duah II, and two sub-chiefs of the town for using their positions to collect GH¢30,000 from a candidate with the promise of enstooling him as the Atwima chief. The two sub-chiefs, the Gyaasehene of Atwima, Nana Akwasi Addai, and the Atwima Abusuapanin, Nana Kwadwo Kwakye, were also said to have promised to release six plots of land belonging to the government to the candidate for him to sell to defray the GH¢30,000. The native sandals of all the three, which symbolised their office as traditional rulers, were removed from their feet moments after Otumfuo Osei Tutu had pronounced their destoolment at the Manhyia Palace. The Asantehene also disqualified Mr Asare Bediako aka Bukatee, the candidate who had given the GH¢30,000 to the queen and the two sub-chiefs with the intention of influencing them to offer him the vacant Atwima Stool. After the destoolment rituals, two of the six candidates who are contesting the Atwima Stool, Mr Thomas Obeng and Mr Kofi Amankwa, were recommended to the Asantehene for consideration by the elders of Atwima. Responding to the recommendations, Otumfuo Osei Tutu gave the assurance that he would pray over the two candidates in order to make the right choice. In a statement prior to her destoolment, Nana Asamoah Duah had told the Asantehene that she had been convinced by the Gyaasehene and the Abusuapanin to cut short her trip to Germany to enable them to devise ways of enstooling a new chief at Atwima. She said the two had also told her that they needed her presence in Ghana to facilitate the sourcing of a loan to facilitate the enstoolment process. She said they convinced her that they would use part of the money to repair the Atwima Palace, but on her return and after the transaction had gone through, the Abusuapanin and the Gyaasehene collected GH¢I0, out of the GH¢30,000 for their personal use and later collected an additional GH¢10,000 for what they described as "special operation." Nana Duah said looking at the way the two men were using her to pursue their personal interest, and the rate at which they were using flimsy excuses to waste the money, she told them that she had also used part of the money to buy a vehicle. Expressing concern over their action, Otumfuo Osei Tutu pointed out that the action of the three was contrary to the traditions, customs and norms of the Ashanti traditional area. He said it was unfortunate that chiefs who were supposed to lead exemplary lives to encourage their subjects to emulate them were amassing wealth through dubious means. He warned that he would not condone such practices, saying the former Chief of Atwima, Nana Agyei Bi, had also been destooled for engaging in wanton sale of stool lands without using the money he generated from the transactions to develop the area for the benefit of the community. Source: Daily Graphic