Nana Konadu Yiadom III (Asantehemaa): “Ɔbaatan na nim neɛ ne mma bɛdi”

As Asanteman mourns the passing of Nana Konadu Yiadom III, many are recalling the countless ways she demonstrated her compassion, leadership, and deep sense of responsibility towards her people.

One of the most memorable examples came on February 16, 2022, when Ghana’s First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, described her generosity with the Akan proverb, “ɔbaatan na nim neɛ ne mma bɛdi” — “A mother’s love is far reaching.”

This came after the Asantehemaa paid the medical bills of patients at the Mother-Baby Unit (MBU), Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), and Paediatric Emergency Unit (PEU) of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, and donated food items to both the hospital and the Manhyia District Hospital.

Speaking at the climax of her 5th Enstoolment Anniversary celebration, the First Lady called her an “embodiment of motherhood, a unifier, and a driving force for progress… the glue that holds it all together.”

Former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings also revealed that the Asantehemaa had been her counsellor, praising her as a mobiliser, educator, and role model for women and the youth.

These words ring even truer today.

The Manhyia Palace has scheduled Thursday, August 21, 2025, for the one-week observation of the late Nana Konadu Yiadom III, the Asantehemaa and sister of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

The date was confirmed by the Asantehene on August 11, 2025, during a meeting of the Asanteman Council, where chiefs and elders were formally informed of her passing.

About Asantehemaa

Born in 1927 at the Benyaade Shrine in Meredane, a small town in Kwadaso, Kumasi, Nana Konadu Yiadom III was the first daughter of Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II and Opanin Kofi Fofie. Entrusted to her aunt, Nana Afia Konadu, while still an infant, she grew up in Ashanti New Town, Kumasi, receiving a rich informal education that instilled discipline, cultural knowledge, and life skills.

As a teenager, she underwent traditional puberty rites alongside her niece, Nana Abena Ansa, and later married Opanin Kwame Boateng, a blacksmith from Aduman in Kumasi. She was known for her humility, compassion, and sense of fairness, traits that earned her respect across Asanteman.

In the mid-1990s, a prophecy foretold her future as Queen Mother, a prediction fulfilled when she ascended the Nyarko Kusiamoah and Konadu Yiadom Stool on February 6, 2017, becoming the fourteenth Asantehemaa.

Her reign was marked by advocacy for maternal health, promotion of breastfeeding, and support for hospitals, as well as initiatives to preserve peace and unity in the Kingdom.

Story by Adwoa S. Danso