According to reports, Barima Bretwum Okyere Bediako II, the Paramount Chief of Sekyere Kwaman in the Ashanti Region, was murdered in a car accident on the Konongo-Kumasi highway with two others.
The traditional ruler, who was driving a Subaru Outback 4×4 vehicle with registration number 4446-CD-21 from Accra on Tuesday, December 21, collided head-on with a Toyota Hiace minibus coming from the opposite direction, according to a police report viewed.
“Upon reaching a section of the road at Odumasi three lane, near the Leon Bird Steel factory on the main Konongo-Kumasi motor road, he was overtaking vehicles ahead of him, and in the process collided head-on with a Toyota Hiace mini bus, with registration number ER 88-21, driven by Bright Otu, from Kumasi to Accra with passengers on board,” according to the report.
Barima, on the other hand, died in the Government Hospital of Konongo/Odumase, where he had been transported for treatment. Ernest Osei Obeng, 38, and Lydia Asare, 42, were the two victims who died shortly after.
The bodies of the deceased were put for preservation at the Stewards hospital morgue in Yawkwei at the time.
Bright Otu, the driver of the Toyota Hiace, had both legs fractured and was sent to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) for treatment.
According to sources, the accident vehicles have been detained as part of police investigations.
The late supreme chief, who went by the name George Bretwum in private, was a police officer before ascending the throne.
His death has startled the Kwaman paramountcy, who have yet to inform the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, of the news.
