Otuo Siriboe Diplomacy; the Quiet Hard Lifter In Ghana

By Napoleon Ato Kittoe

The shrewd diplomatic personality can only be Daasebre Otuo Siriboe II, Paramount Chief of Juaben Asante and Chairman of Council of State, Ghana. Reports say he is one of the key ones playing behind-the-scenes role which have unblocked paths, untied knots and unravelled mysteries, for the good of Ghana.

He never ceases in pointing at sources of his strength, some of which are partnerships with others. Yet, others point at him as one of Ghana’s shrewdest when it comes to brokering peace to lubricate processes towards successful endings.

Dr Yaw Baah, Leader of Organized Labour in Ghana mentioned Daasebre Otuo Siriboe II as the personality who intervened, otherwise labour would have pressed ahead with the boycott.  Announcing the U-turn in the intended strike action, the Trades Unionist gave all the credit to Daasebre Otuo Siriboe II for the masterstroke he introduced in the affair, being the “conundrum on financial haircuts”. The austere measure was going to decimate the pension of distressed workers if the government had exercised it in the debt exchange programme.

Government tabled it as part of measures to wriggle the country out of the very difficult 2022 financial year. To put it in a nutshell, when the chicken came to a roost, government exempted pension funds after workers threatened a boycott from December 27, 2022.

However, the end to the stalemate did not belong to a happenstance. It took efforts by Daasebre Otuo Siriboe II before the parties came to the discussion table, almost immediately after the strike action was announced. That quenched the simmering volcano.

When contacted,  Daasebre Otuo Siriboe II said, he was always up on his feet making the necessary contacts to get the two sides to abandon the standoff and come to a  common ground. In the end, government acceded to labour’s demands and that cleared from the horizon, the looming crisis that portended danger for the succeeding year.

A former President of Ghana, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufour had also showered praises on Daasebre Otuo Siriboe II in a recent interview he granted the media, over the quiet role he played in getting Ghana hooked onto IMF’s HIPC initiative.

President Kufour said, he took the bold decision despite disagreement over it at a cabinet meeting, to put the economy of Ghana on track. The next stage was how to persuade the IMF to concretize it. But then, Daasebre Otuo Siriboe II who was on his way to Washington DC, United States to join the King of Asante, Otumfuo Osei Tutu ll for an event, decided to inform the President Kufour before departing.

According to the former President, he seized the moment to tell Daaaebre Otuo Siriboe II about the difficulties in getting the IMF to quickly grant the HIPC initiative.

Before he jetted away, the Paramount Chief of Juaben Asante, immediately placed a call on the King of Asante. The King then called the World Bank President who also spoke with his counterpart at the IMF, and the deal was sealed.

This probably settles the debate as to whether the Council of State chaired by Daasebre Otuo Siriboe II and by others yet to come, is still relevant or not. At the 50th anniversary of his ascension to the stool of Juaben Asante in 2021, council of state members commended him on his leadership of the constitutional organ of state. Well, the chief had also said, he could not have done it alone had initiatives on the council gone unsupported by the other members.