Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa III passes on

Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa III, the Paramount Chief of the Akuapem Traditional Area, has passed on.

He died at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital last Tuesday.

No further details were given as family and palace sources are tight lipped about the developments except to give the hint that all the six divisions of the Akuapem State would hold a press conference at 10 a.m. today to oultline the way forward for the Akuapem State.

The divisions are Gyase at Amanokrom, Adonten at Aburi, Kronti at Akropong, Nifa at Adukrom, Benkum at Larteh and Kyidom at Mamfe.

Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa III was installed the Paramount Chief of the Akuapem Traditional Area in 1974 at the age of 44 and reigned continuously for 35 years.

He is, therefore, reputed to be the longest reigning Okuapehene since the formation of the Akuapem State.

Education/work experience

Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa III had his secondary education at the Presbyterian Secondary School, Odumase Krobo. In his final year at PRESEC, he was the Senior Prefect of the school and obtained Cambridge School Certificate in 1951.

He worked as an Officer in charge of admissions at the Academic Registrar’s Office, University College of Gold Coast from 1952 to 1956.

It was during this period that he studied as a private student and obtained his ‘A’ Level and Intermediate B.Sc Economic certificates.
In October 1956, he was admitted to the University College of Ghana and completed in 1959 with B.Sc Economics – University of London degree.

After graduation, he worked briefly as a co-operative officer at the Department of Co-Operatives and as a senior auditor at the Auditor General’s Department.

When Mensah Sarbah Hall was opened at the University of Ghana in 1963, he was appointed its Hall Bursar in charge of Financial and Administrative matters.

Chieftaincy

In 1974, Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa III was installed the Paramount Chief of the Akuapem Traditional Area. He occupied the following positions since then:

President of the Akuapem Traditional Council from 1974 till his demise. Member, Eastern Regional House of Chiefs 1975 to date.
Member, National House of Chiefs 1990-to date.

Member, Research Committee National House of Chiefs 1990-1994.

He was also the Chairman of the Publicity Committee National House of Chiefs 1990-1994 and President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs 1994-2000. Member, Standing Committee of the National House of Chiefs 1994-2000.

Other services

In his capacity as a paramount chief in his area, Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa III combined the services to the people of his area with service to the nation in the following capacities: Chairman, Board of Directors – Social Security & National Insurance Trust 1977-1980; Chairman, Board of Directors of Social Security Bank Ltd. 1981-1986; Chairman, Ghana Branch of Commonwealth Society 1980-1987; Chairman, Graphic Communications Group Ltd. 1996-1998; Chairman, Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Ltd. (BOST) 2003-2008, and member, Advisory Board of the Institute of African Studies, Legon 1991-to date.
From 1999 to the present, he was a Member of the Civil Society Group known as the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD).
He was until his death the Chief Patron of Accra Great Olympics Sporting Club.

Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa III was first to introduce a press awards system.

He organised the press award for six conservative years.
Every year, in the second week of December, Oseadeeyo organised a special durbar at Akuapem at which the Best journalist who had been selected by the media practitioners themselves was given a Special Akuapem Press Award.

Later on, the Ghana Journalists’ Association (GJA) took over the organisation of the press award and in appreciation of Oseadeeyo’s initiative of the press award system, the GJA headed by the then President, Gifty Afenyie Dadzie made Oseadeeyo a Patron of the association and in addition gave a special award to Oseadeeyo in 1998.

Akuapem

In 1994, a misunderstanding between Akropong and Abiriw resulted in a break-up of the Akuapem State with the Nifa, the Benkum and Adonten divisions deciding not to pay allegiance to the Ofori Kuma Stool headed by Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa.

Various overtures by religious and political leaders to resolve the problem yielded very little results but when Mrs Helen Ntoso was appointed Eastern Regional Minister, she intensified the efforts.

Fortunately, her efforts yielded fruitful results with the three divisions agreeing on August 27, 213, to pay allegiance to the Ofori Kuma Stool and for the first time in 20 years all the divisions in the Akuapem State, participated in the Akuapem Odwira in 2014.