Manhyia Palace has received one hundred and thirty (130) gold and bronze artworks from South Africa and Britain.

These artefacts, crafted in Kumasi, the Ashanti Region, about a century and a half ago, were purchased by AngloGold Ashanti and have now been returned to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the Manhyia Palace and to the museum.

Some of these pieces are aged between forty-five (45) and one hundred and sixty (160) years, reflecting governance systems in villages and towns as well as the socio-economic importance of gold.

In a ceremony marked by traditional Asante cultural protocols such as drumming, dancing, and the presence of chiefs and elders, some executives of AngloGold Ashanti, led by Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer Stuart Bailey, presented the items to the Asantehene. They were accompanied by the Managing Director of the Obuasi mine, Samuel Boakye Pobee, and former MP of Obuasi, Edward Ennin.

The Ashanti Overlord, in response, expressed his gratitude to the gold trading firm for their kind gesture in returning the artefacts, which they had purchased from the open market. He commended them for thinking it “appropriate to give back to the source from which they were taken.”

A total of 110 items that were returned have now been added to those already in Kumasi, bringing the total number of returned objects to 140. These objects originally came from the Barbier-Muller Museum in Geneva, which had collected them through its founder, Josef Muller, starting in 1904.

Aside from the donations by AngloGold, an 86-year-old British art historian and curator, Hermione Waterfield, donated 25 more objects from her personal collection. She had joined the famous art auction house Christie’s in London in 1961 and, in 1971, established the Tribal Art Department.

Detailing Waterfield’s donation, Historian and Director of the Manhyia Palace Museum, Ivor Agyeman-Duah, mentioned that it included a 46-inch wooden fontomfrom drum, which was part of the loot from the Palace.

These items were taken away by British Colonial Officer Sir Cecil Hamilton Armitage, who led the advance force in the siege of Kumasi in 1900 during the Yaa Asantewaa War and later became British Colonial Governor of The Gambia.

Waterfield inherited these drums and owned fourteen other gold weights purchased between 1967 and 1973, including from Christie’s auctions.

Mr. Agyeman-Duah continued that the authority on the returned objects from South Africa “and indeed of metal or goldsmith arts in West Africa was the late British art historian and archaeologist, Timothy Garrand, who lived for a time in Kumasi and Accra and also Bouake in the Ivory Coast. Together with the octogenarian Waterfield, they have helped shape our understanding not just of gold and bronze collecting but of the heritage of their manufacturing processes.”

Among Waterfield’s donations is the famous brass self-portrait of Timothy Garrand on his motorbike in Kumasi, created by Yaw Amankwa in 1980.

Mr. Agyeman-Duah, who last October signed the deaccession papers with Waterfield in London, said that among other great works to be displayed at the palace museum are those of Ghanaian and African masters, including Ablade Glover, El Anatsui, Ato Delaquis, Nee-Owoo, Anthony Kwame Akoto, Vincent Koffi, and Edwin Kwasi Bodjawah.

In February 2024, the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London restituted 32 royal Asante artefacts to Ghana, including gold regalia, ceremonial objects, and historic treasures taken during the Anglo-Asante wars of the 19th century.

Another restitution took place eight months later that same year, when a set of 17 artefacts was repatriated from the Fowler Museum at UCLA (United States) to the Manhyia Palace, alongside another return of items from South Africa’s AngloGold Ashanti. The multinational company returned the items from their collections, marking the beginning of a partnership to restore cultural heritage.

According to documented records, the donations from both South Africa and Britain bring the total tally of artefacts to about one hundred and sixty-two (162): thirty-two from Britain in February 2024 and the 130 delivered this month.

Meanwhile, in unrelated development, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has called on African leaders to tap into the continent's rich human and resource capital for development and to attain self-sufficiency. He made these calls in June this year.

His call comes on the back of Africa’s over-reliance on international aid for development. He believes the continent is rich in everything from human capital to natural resources and considerable infrastructure to create ‘the Africa we need.’

African universities possess the expertise and capacity to produce the skilled workforce needed to drive progress, transforming knowledge into tangible development.

“We have all the resources we need. Look at the graduates here today, there’s nothing they cannot achieve. The question is, what are we lacking to motivate them? We must empower our engineers to manufacture what we need locally. Our professors and lecturers are brimming with knowledge; we have the capacity to make this happen,” he said.

The Asantehene continued with calls for unity and self-reliance, urging citizens to take ownership of the continent’s progress.

“Let us challenge ourselves as Africans, as Ghanaians, and work together to build our future,” the Asante Overlord said during an address at the 58th Special Congregation of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) over the weekend.

To attain this continental unity, Otumfuo called for unity, collaboration, and partnerships among African countries to unlock growth and development within the region.

“We must collaborate effectively as African nations. We’ve held discussions on Ghana’s relations with Eswatini and South-South cooperation to explore stronger partnerships. As Africans, we must prioritise trade and business among ourselves. Our economies are in our hands; if we fail to act and continue relying on the so-called ‘developed’ world, especially in these uncertain times, we risk stagnation. Africa must come first,” he stated.

The Asantehene was accompanied by His Majesty King Mswati III, Ingwenyama of the Kingdom of Eswatini, who embarked on a four-day state visit.