This was announced by the Ashanti Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in a statement.

[contextly_sidebar id=”wotG9ygWhTxd9mnRYXRO2rJzi2k2G539″]In the statement copied to citifmonline.com, the GES advised day students in the various Senior High Schools not to report to school on Monday, December 4, and Friday December 8, 2017.

The final funeral rites of the late Asantehemaa, Nana Afia Serwaa Kobi Ampen II, who died in December 2016, is being held between December 1 and December 11, 2017 in the Ashanti Region.

“We wish to inform residents in Kumasi Metro, Asokore Mampong Municipal and the general public that activities being held for the final funeral rites of the late queen mother, Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem 11, demand that Basic schools within these areas be closed down on Monday 4th December 2017.”

“On Friday 8th December, 2017, schools will closed at 12 noon to enable students to reach home on time. Day students in the Senior High schools are also to stay home within these two days,” the statement said.

Background

The late Asantehemaa, who was the mother of the current Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, passed away in 2016 at age 109, and was succeeded by Nana Konadu Yiadom II, Asantehene’s elder sister.

Although her burial rites were performed in January 2017, her funeral rites are being held over a 2-week period in the Ashanti Region.

The Chairman of the funeral committee, Nsuase Opoku Agyeman, Otumfuo’s Akyeamhene in an earlier press briefing, advised residents and traders in the Central Business District of Kumasi to close their shops on Monday and Tuesday, explaining that “there will be firing of musketry in the streets, the executioners will also be around to display, so as Nananom parade from Adum to Manhyia, we will advice that all shops be closed, no trotros or taxis should be seen working.”

He further announced that, “no one should be seen in the evening on Saturday. It should be observed just like the Thursday during the burial rites, because that evening, Nananom will take the Abusuakuruwa to Breman.”

Funerals banned

Meanwhile, a ban has been placed on all funerals in the region from the Friday 1st December to Monday 11th December.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Asantehene was taken through some principal streets of the metropolis before finally taken to the Manhyia Palace.

Otumfuo’s Mawerehene, Baffour Osei Brentuo Hyiaman V, has said the Asantehene and the Manhyia Palace are not ready to respond to stories that emerged while he was away.

According to him, the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has never responded to such issues and was not ready to respond to the recent one.

The Asantehene received a rousing welcome when he touched down at the Kumasi Airport amidst singing and drumming.

He was taken through the principal streets of the metropolis and was finally taken to the Manhyia Palace.

Residents in the Kumasi metropolis had lined up on the streets to wave the Asante monarch when he arrived.

Baffour Hyiaman V told Citi News that Manhyia was not interested in the money laundering allegations, and will not respond to the issues.

Background

The Asantehene’s name popped up in the UK media, in a suspected money laundering case, after he sent a bank official to deposit a cash amount of £350,000 on his behalf.

According to the UK’s Telegraph, when Osei Tutu II, summoned Mark Arthur to his multi-million-pound residence in Henley-on-Thames and handed him a bag containing almost £200,000 in sterling as well as $200,000 in US currency with consecutive serial numbers, the bank official felt it inappropriate to ask too many questions.

However, the subsequent deposit of the cash at the Ghana International Bank, triggered a money laundering alert in the City of London and cost Mr. Arthur his job.

The Ghana International Bank has since clarified that there is no suggestion of money laundering allegations against the Asantehene.

A statement from the UK-based bank, asserted that, the ongoing litigation between the bank and a former Executive Director, Mark Arthur, concerned breaches of the Bank’s internal policies and UK laws.

These breaches were said to have happened when Mr. Arthur carried out a transaction on behalf of the Asantehene, reportedly involving £350,000.

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By: Hafiz Tijani/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Otumfuo given hero’s welcome after money laundering allegations appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Reports say an unknown woman, possibly Ms Lewthwaite, was given a police escort to visit a Kenyan army base in Somalia before disappearing.

She is accused of links to Somali Islamist group al-Shabab, which has attacked Kenya several times.

Ms Lewthwaite’s husband died in a 2005 suicide attack.

Her husband Germaine Lindsay was one of the four bombers who carried out the 7 July bombings in London that year in which 52 people were killed and hundreds more injured.

Different identity

Kenyan police officers in the coastal town of Lamu provided an armed escort to a white woman who disappeared after her attempts to enter Somalia were blocked by immigration officials.

Well-placed security sources have told the BBC they have reliable information that Ms Lewthwaite is in the country and they have launched a massive operation to find her.

But Lamu Police Commander Leonard Omollo told the AFP news agency the woman had been identified as a Spanish tourist who had since returned home, without giving further details.

Kenyan army spokesman Willy Wesonga has confirmed that a team of detectives is investigating whether the woman was Ms Lewthwaite and, if it was her, why she intended to visit the Kenyan army camp.

After last year’s attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi, Kenya sought an international warrant for her arrest.

She was reported to have been linked to the attack but this was not mentioned on the warrant.

An Interpol statement said she was “wanted by Kenya on charges of being in possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony dating back to December 2011”.

Kenya has several thousand troops helping the UN-backed government battle al-Shabab in Somalia.

Source: BBC

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