Education minister Dr. Osei Yaw Adutwum was given the greatest honour by the Asantehene to launch the “History of Ashanti” book to commemorate 150 years of the ‘Sargerenti war.’
Launching the book, Dr Yaw Adutwum thanked Otumfuo for the confidence repose in him “your majesty, the last time I had one-on-one meeting with you, I went home and told my mom that I have met the King of the Asante. Then she started jubilating that my son has met Otumfuo, so if my mom was alive today and if she was to see me on tv she would have said today my son is launching a book written by Otumfuo Sir Osei Agyemang Prempeh II. Today is a very great day for me.”
According to Dr. Adutwum the Sagrenti war brought some transformation just like Education is doing today.
Dr. Adutwum also recounted how Aduaben came into being stating his grandparents are natives of the town “my grandparents come from Aduaben.”
The education minister encouraged people to be patriotic as was seen in the days of the ‘Sargerenti war’ where the Asante army led by King Kofi Karikari fought to restore hope.
To him, the “History of Ashanti” is a book about patriotism, individual who were willing to pay the ultimate price so that their kingdom will survive.
“This is a book which must be read, it teaches us a good lesson of how we must even die for our kingdom. Stories of promises made and kept.”
“So much humanity, a kingdom that we have to learn from in order to create a better world, a better nation.”
He thanked Asantehene for choosing him to do the launching “Otumfuo Osei Tutu II thank you for the opportunity thank you for allowing me to do this launching and it is my prayer that all of us will pick this book. It is also my prayer that other authors of children book will begin to write children version of it so that our children will begin to know more about this great kingdom.”
The famous war chronicles clashes between the Asante and the British army led by Sir Garnet Wolseley. Scores of people died with hundreds of injuries.
A treaty at Fomena between the then Asantehene, H.M. Kofi Karikari and Queen Victoria brought enmity to an end with the restoration of mutual understanding between the two kingdoms.
The book “History of Ashanti” chronicles events of 1874, 1896 and 1900.
