The Omanhene of the New Juaben Traditional Area in the Eastern Region, Daasebre Professor Emeritus Oti Boateng, has passed on, aged 83.

He died about two weeks ago after a short illness.

Multiple sources close to the New Juaben Palace and also the family, which confirmed the incident to the Daily Graphic, said the New Juaben Traditional Council was expected to officially announce the death today.

A visit to the palace yesterday showed the place was very quiet, with no activity at all.

Although some traditional leaders were sighted within the palace, visitors were, however, not allowed to enter.

Internationally acclaimed

The late Daasebre Oti Boateng was not only a distinguished traditional ruler but also an academician and internationally recognised statistician who worked at various times with the United Nations and other international organisations.

One of the key crusades he launched in recent times was the Root-Based Model (RBM), an innovative development model to reduce poverty and inequality in Ghana and on the African continent.

He wrote a book to support his internationally acclaimed and award-winning development model.

Also, he offered key support to the Graphic-Zoomlion National Sanitation Project when it was launched in the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua, last July.

The Omanhene was the chairman during the Sanitation Dialogue, at which he underscored the need for inclusiveness in the national bid to make the country clean.

At the event, Daasebre called for a change in attitude towards environmental sanitation by stressing the need for people to always keep their surroundings tidy.

“Also, there is the need for a continuous campaign on proper sanitation practices to drum home the consequences of filth on the health of the people. There must be a sustainable social intervention on sanitation by the government as well,” he emphasised.

Traditional rule

Daasebre Oti Boateng acceded the New Juaben Stool in 1992, succeeding his elder brother, the late Daasebre Nana Kwaku Boateng II.

There were plans to launch the celebration of his 30th anniversary on the stool next year.

He was a member of the Yiadom-Hwedie Royal Family of Juaben, Ashanti, and New Juaben. His mother was the queenmother of Juaben in Ashanti.

As a traditional ruler, Daasebre Oti Boateng strengthened the New Juaben Traditional Council as a local institution for the prosperity of the people.

He institutionalised the first traditional festival in post-independence Ghana – the Akwantukese or the Great Migration – which brings into contemporary prominence a missing but critical and major event of Asante history in Ghana.