IN THE MIND OF OTUMFUOƆ: THE WEIGHT OF A GOLDEN STOOL
Long before dawn breaks over Kumasi, when the city still breathes in silence, the mind of Otumfuo is already awake.
He thinks not as one man, but as history itself.
In his thoughts live centuries—echoes of warriors who defended the Golden Stool with blood and oath, voices of elders who ruled with wisdom sharper than any spear. Power, to Otumfuo, is never loud. It is heavy. It sits, unmoving, like the Stool itself—untouched, unseen, yet commanding absolute reverence.
Otumfuo understands that a crown is not worn for glory but for balance. Every decision must calm storms before they break. Chiefs quarrel, families divide, politics threatens tradition, and modern life tugs at ancient values. In his mind, all these forces meet, and he must be the centre that holds them together.
He worries for the youth—brilliant yet restless, connected to the world but drifting from their roots. He asks himself how to guide them without chaining them to the past. Tradition must breathe, he believes, or it will die.
He thinks of justice often. True justice is not punishment alone but restoration. In palace disputes, land conflicts, and matters of blood and inheritance, Otumfuo searches for outcomes that heal, not merely win. A kingdom divided, he knows, is already defeated.
At times, the weight is lonely. A king listens more than he speaks, trusts fewer than he hears, and carries secrets no council must ever know. Smiles are offered to the public, but silence is his closest companion.
Yet in the depths of his mind lives hope.
Hope that Asanteman will rise beyond internal rivalries. Hope that culture will not bow to corruption. Hope that leadership—traditional or modern—will remember service over self.
And above all, Otumfuo remembers one unbreakable truth: he does not own the Golden Stool. He is merely its caretaker. When his time ends, the Stool will remain—watching, waiting—for another mind strong enough to carry its weight.
For in the mind of Otumfuo, leadership is not power.
It is sacrifice.