This photo of Kwame Tua shows that he was once Gyasihene.
Although this story is covered in many narrations by several narrators, there is one consistent theme. That said, Kwame Tua was a hated man in the Ashanti world.
It’s unclear what his exact position was in the kingdom during the time of the colonial rulers, but one thing is clear. Kwame Tua always provided information about his people to the British people, which made him the beloved boy of the British people.
He was called the Ashanti Traitor, and to this day it is even considered forbidden to speak his name, especially within the confines of the Asantehene Kingdom.
One of the many accounts of a man named Kwame Tua is that he revealed secrets about his people to the British and was said to have greatly contributed to the arrest of Yaa Asatewaa, the mother of the Ashanti warrior queen.
This is believed to have been achieved with the assistance of a man named Kwasi Apea Nuama, who is believed to be his older brother.
For example, a 78-year-old man who took part in a radio discussion on Kwame Tua on Kumasi-based Nira FM gave his own account of what he knew about the man.
He explained how powerful Kwame Tua had become and said that even though he did no special work, he became so feared that he even took one of the Asantehene wives. .
“Although Kwame Tua did not have a specific job, he was a favored informant for the whites and informed them of everything that was going on within Ashanti circles.
“Because of this, he and one of the Nuama became so powerful that no one could speak about them. Kwame Tua had the support of the white people and therefore succeeded in gathering one of the Asantehene wives. There was even a time,” he narrated.
The old man, who was not named on the show, also corroborated claims that Kwame Tua was instrumental in Yaa Asatewa’s arrest.
He added that this was done with the support of his brother Nuama, and that the two were later rewarded by the British colonialists during Prempeh I’s exile.
“In fact, information about Yaa Asantewa’s whereabouts reached the white people through Nuama and Kwame Tua and she was captured,” he narrated.
“How useful all this was to him was that when Asantehene Prempeh I was captured and exiled, all the Ashanti chairs were left abandoned. “I told him that I wanted to give him the position of a scholar. Kwame Tua, on the other hand, asked for one of the seats in the royal family. Incidentally, Nuama and Kwame Tua were brothers,” he added.
However, although Ghanaweb has not been able to confirm the veracity of the above account regarding Kwame Tua, there are several academic and personal accounts regarding this name and his younger brother Nuama on the internet.
This article was first published by GhanaWeb on April 16, 2023.