According to Obiri Boahen who was speaking on OK FM, Nana Agyemang Badu’s account of how the name Kumasi came to being is erroneous and cannot be taken as the fact.

“The statement by Dormaahene is not correct. Historically, it’s inaccurate. He is a good friend but what he said is not correct historically. He said Kumasi is from ‘akuma ase’ and that the Bono people defeated the Ashantis. At the time they fought the war, Kumasi did not exist. The Dormaa people are from Kunfo. They moved their kingdom and settled at Suntreso. At the time, Tafo and Kwaman existed but Kumasi did not. They fought with the people of Kwaman not Kumasi. Kumasi came into being during the era of Osei Tutu 1.”

The Dormaahene in a viral video lamented what he claimed to be distortion of history and tried to ‘set the records straight’.

Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II said, in the year 1640, the then chief of Akwamu, Ansa Sasraku, was going about saying when he dies, none of the twins of his sister can succeed him; this continued for a while till he died and it happened that there was confusion among the subjects

Dormaahene said, amid the confusion, the people of Kumawu took over some territories across the country and even extended to Côte d’Ivoire but “when they got to present-day Asante, that territory was under the Denkyirahene. Today they have an appellation as ‘asante kotoko kum apem a apem beba’ [if you kill thousand, thousand will come] but do you know that of the people of Bono, theirs is ‘abono kyen apem’ [Bonos are more than thousand]”

Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II explained, “this means that, when we got to Denkyira, Dormaahene had his territory; so the two were not fighting each other, our brothers from Asante – they were a group of people who had come together – but they broke away from Ntim Gyakari…and decided to fight the people of Dormaa because they were defeated six times…

“…We beheaded their chief and his head is still with the people of Dormaa…it took the people of Dormaa 250 years before they came to settle at Dormaahenkro but no chief was able to defeat the chief of Dormaa, because you don’t read your history you don’t know.

“You have fallen for the history that Okomfo Anokye planted a tree both in Asante and Kumawu and because the tree died that is why the place is called Kumawu; that is a lie. When we talk about Kumasi, it means that they were labourers. When we got to the place known as Asante today, the people of Kumasi were under Denkyira and they were responsible for getting Denkyirahene firewood that is ‘akuma ase’ but today, because of their population, they have changed it. It means ‘akuma ase hene’ and not Kum. If you are a chief and you are brilliant and you know the law, people are afraid of you…,” Dormaahene stressed.