Name Okyenhene Kuntunkunuku | ||
His Royal Majesty, Osagyefuo Kuntunkununku II (22 February 1942 – 17 March 1999) was the 34th King of the Akyem Abuakwa Kingdom, also styled Okyeman, in the Eastern Region of Ghana. He ascended the Okyeman most revered Ofori Panin Stool on 2 August 1976, taking over from his late uncle King Osagyefuo Ofori Atta III. He occupied the stool until his death on 17 March 1999.
Dr. Alex Okoampa Fredua Agyeman, as he was privately known before his enstoolment, was born on 22 February 1942, at Asiakwa in eastern Ghana. He began his education at various Presbyterian schools at Asiakwa, Asamankese and Old Tafo, all in Okyeman, before proceeding to Prempeh College (1957–61), where the Ashanti kings are traditionally educated, and then went on to Accra Academy (1961–62). He was trained at Sofia State University in Bulgaria and Charles University in Prague as a doctor and was one of a new breed of professionals who were eagerly accepted to become the occupants of important stools when they were elected by their king-makers.
On his return in 1969, Dr Fredua Agyeman worked at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and later at the Ridge Hospital until his enstoolment. His stool name "Kuntunkunuku" was made for the talking drums. It was also the name of the very first Akyem king, King Kuntunkununku I (1400 AD). He was said to be destined to rule as, according to an elder at Asiakwa, the Okyenhene, Nana Sir Ofori Atta I, saw a handsome young policeman at Asiakwa as he drove through the town. He stopped and told him he would give him one of his sisters in marriage so they would give birth to a son who would one day occupy the Ofori Panin Palace. That young man was Okoampa, Kuntukununku's father.
He continued to practise after his enstoolment (though he dropped the title of Doctor, as being unsuitable to his position), and was able to make a start on the modernisation of the government hospital at Kyebi. Devoted to public work, the Okyenhene sat on Land and Forestry Commissions (one of his ancient titles was Kwaebibiremhene, or King of the Forest).He was president of the Ghana Ethos-Medical Foundation, and a trustee of the Ghana Society for the Blind. He was also a member of the Consultative Assembly, which in 1992 drew up a new constitution for Ghana. Such was his reputation that he was elected to two consecutive three-year terms as President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, and from 1998 as President of the National House of Chiefs, numbering more than 5,000 in all. He was also a member of the Council of State.
The reign of the King Osagyefuo Kuntunukunuku saw some development in the Royal Akyem kingdom particularly in the educational sector. A number of educational institutions were established during his reign as King of Okyeman. The then Atiwa constituency (now Atiwa District) of the kingdom, which hitherto had no second cycle institution, saw the establishment of the Kwabeng Anglican Senior Secondary and Technical School, Akyem Sekyere S.D.A. Senior Secondary School and the Anyinam Saint Paul's Vocational Institute. The Abuakwa Constituency (now Abuakwa north and south constituencies) also saw the establishment of the Akyem Asafo Senior Secondary School, Kyebi Technical Institute and the Kyebi Vocational, among others.
Economic activity was also enhanced with the establishment of numerous gold mines in the traditional area during the reign of the Osagyefuo. Kuntunkunuku never took kindly to the environmental problem created by the gold mines. In 1995, he visited the Kwabeng Goldenray Mining Company to ascertain for himself complains of the people of Kwabeng and surrounding villages about the pollution of water bodies in the area as a result of the surface gold mining of the company.
King Osagyefuo Kuntunkununku II was married with six children, including a set of twins.