Star Ben Darkwah :
The assertion that Techiman cannot be considered Akan piesie confuses initial geographic settlement with the establishment of a centralized kingdom. The historical concept of Akan piesie is based strictly on the formation of the first organized Akan kingdom and its governance, not merely when an individual hunter or family head built the first hut in the bush.
First, we must distinguish between localized settlement and political statehood. Early settlers, hunters, and family units existed across the Gold Coast long before formal states emerged. For instance, when the Portuguese arrived on the coast in 1471, the Denkyira people were already living on the land, yet they were not organized under a single centralized chief; they were led independently by family heads (Abusua Panyin) and only consolidated into a unified kingdom around 1500. Similarly, Kwaaman did not establish its centralized stool until around 1570. Early habitation by individuals does not equate to the creation of a sovereign state.
Secondly, the title of Akan piesie belongs to the Bono state because Bonomanso was the very first Akan entity to organize itself into a full kingdom with a centralized monarchical system and advanced statecraft. Bonomanso was simply the original capital of this Bono Kingdom. When Bonomanso fell, the capital and the ancestral royal stool were relocated to Techiman. Because the seat of governance and the royal lineage transitioned directly to Techiman, the Techimanhene remains the direct successor to the Bonomanso stool, carrying forward the status of the first Akan kingdom.
Furthermore, we must always pay attention to the context in which historical and customary titles are used. For example, when constitutional scholars state that there is no king in Ghana, they mean that no traditional ruler holds sovereign Westphalian state power comparable to King Charles III of the United Kingdom, King Letsie III of Lesotho, or the Pope in Vatican City. In that exact same contextual sense, calling a state Akan piesie refers specifically to priority in Akan kingdom formation and stool succession, rather than which village was settled first.
2026-08-15 19:31:41