Surman Ahenkro Traditional Rules
By the traditional rules of Surman Ahenkro, the power to install and to unstool the Omanhene — the King — rests with a council of hereditary office-holders, the Kingmakers. No one takes the stool, and no one leaves it, without them. Each holds an ancestral mandate, handed down through the generations, that gives them their place and their voice in the making and the unmaking of a King.
The Queen Mother · the nominator. As mother of the royal house and head of the matrilineal Oyoko family, Nana Hemaa carries the ancestral mandate to nominate the candidate for the Omanhene stool. Her word opens the process — no King is enstooled without her nomination — and with the council she stands in the installation and, where custom demands, the destoolment of the King.
First in power, next to the Omanhene. Senior divisional chief and deputy to the King, the Kontihene presides over the state in the Omanhene’s absence. His ancestral mandate is to hold the state steady between reigns and to lead the council of kingmakers that raises a new King to the stool — or removes one from it.
Second in power, next to the Omanhene. Head of the Akwamu division, the Akwamuhene carries an ancestral mandate of counsel and strength. He is a leading voice in enthroning a new Omanhene and a guardian of the customs by which the King holds the stool.
Third in power, next to the Omanhene. Commander of the Kyidom — the rear guard of the state — the Kyeidomhene’s ancestral mandate is to protect the stool from behind, the last line of the state. His voice and consent are required in the installation and, if needed, the unstooling of the King.
Head of the royal lineage. The Abusuapanin is custodian of the royal family — its genealogy, its property, and its affairs. His ancestral mandate is to guard the legitimacy of the royal line, confirming that a candidate truly belongs to the stool family, and to stand with the Queen Mother and the chiefs in installing and unstooling the Omanhene.