Akan Cultural Symbols Project

AKAN OHEMMAA - AKAN QUEENMOTHER

The silver stool of a queemother

The Asantehemma sitting in state with her counsellors

Nkotimsefoo - Queenmother's attendants

A queenmother sitting in state

Social organization in all Akan kingdoms is based on matrilineal descent. Each town or village has a royal family (the family that first settled there), and from this royal family the chief and the queenmother are selected by the elders of the royal family, the chief, or the queenmother. 

The queenmother is the co-ruler and has joint responsibility with the king for all affairs of the state (Rattray, 1923; Meyerowitz, 1951; Busia, 1951; Aidoo, 1981; Arhin, 1983; Manuh, 1988). This important constitutional role of the queenmother is illustrated by the Asante political organization in which the ohemmaa adwa (queenmother's stool) is the akonnua panyin, the senior stool in relation to the ohene adwa (king's stool). When the ohemmaa and ohene sit in state together, the ohene is seated to the right of the ohemmaa.

The Akan queenmother , more properly, the ohemmaa (literally, "female ruler"), wields true political power and could, under certain conditions, assume full control of central authority; she could become the "king," the omanhene. The ohemmaa is the only person who can rebuke the ohene  openly  in public.

The Akan ohemmaa holds her title because of her seniority in the royal matrilineage and not because of any relation to a particular male.

The Akan ohemmaa was, and continues to be, chosen by her senior lineage mates, female as well as male. Changes have occurred in the institution of ohemmaa over the last century that have resulted primarily from colonial conquest. But it is clear that the ohemmaa has never been chosen by the king. To the contrary, she, in fact, is the one who is principally responsible, and historically has been, for the selection of the candidate when the king's office, the royal stool, becomes vacant. Rattray, writing of the Asante ohemmaa, related the following:

In olden times, when a chief had to be chosen it was the Queen Mother who had the most say in the choice to be made. She would summon her clan mates, male and female, and they would discuss the matter apart from the sub-chiefs and elders belonging to other clans. Having chosen the chief, the Queen Mother sends a message to the sub-chiefs and elders who now discuss the nominee, and when they have agreed, as I am told they generally do--no one can be put on the stool against whom the Queen Mother gives her veto--the Queen Mother is informed. (1969, p. 82)

The Ashanti Stool Histories (1976),  indicates that

The Queen-mother may nominate a candidate from among the members of the Stool Family in consultation with the Gyasehene [head of the palace administration] and her relatives, but the nomination of a candidate remains her sole responsibility. (1964,AS.33; 1)

When the sub-chiefs approve of the ohemmaa's nomination this is announced to the general public (i.e., the asafo) who may approve or reject the nomination. If the nomination is rejected, the ohemmaa has to submit another nomination. If the general public approves of the nomination, the nominee (king-elect) is carried shoulder high in jubilation. Thereafter, the nominee (king-elect) is held away from public for up to forty days. It is during this period that the nominee (king-elect) is schooled in statecraft, stool history, court etiquette, public speaking, and dance. 

In Akan society, a woman is not barred from the Royal Stool. Women can and on occasion have, in effect, become omanhene. This is acceptable particularly when no suitable male heirs can be found. A dramatic, historically documented example of this is the reign of the Juabenhemmaa, Nana Ama Sewaa, popularly known as Juaben Sewaa. Nana Ama Sewaa occupied the Juaben Royal Stool in the mid-nineteenth century in the absence of suitable male heirs (Boahen, 1964, p. 29; Rattray, 1929, pp. 173-177). She was, in turn, succeeded by her daughter.

Other notable Akan queenmothers include Yaa Asantewaa who was queenmother of Edweso, Asante.

The queenmothers' authority has always rested (and continues to rest) in the perception by themselves and others that they possess knowledge and wisdom in important areas such as tradition, family history, legal and political matters, and genealogy. Queenmothers are still viewed as keepers of tradition and "king-makers," and in their continuing role of safeguarding women' s welfare, they have taken up growing "modem" civic issues such as child care, education for women, drug addiction, and teenage pregnancy.

AKAN CULTURAL SYMBOLS PROJECT