Asantehene Demands UK Government Abolishes Laws That Prevent Restitution Of Looted Artefacts

• The Asantehene has quizzed the British government on their reason for keeping laws that prevent restitution of looted artefacts to their rightful owners
• Otumfuo Osei Tutu II described the laws as protecting an illegality and demanded that they be repealed
• He said their continuous existence on the UK's statute books was an injustice to those whose cultural artefacts had been taken away by unethical means

Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has questioned certain British laws which prevent the British Museum from repatriating looted artefacts to their rightful owners.

According to Otumfuo, he is baffled that the British government would still maintain these laws on its statute books when they clearly protected illegality.

He made the statement while delivering a lecture on Asante Culture and Heritage: Past and Present in the UK.

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The Otumfuo was making a case for the return of looted Asante artefacts from the British Museum to their rightful owners.

Otumfuo said the laws needed to be revised to allow for justice and reparation.

He said there was no doubt much of the artefacts on display in the British Museum were obtained through illegal and unethical means.

“Can anyone in good conscience sustain the enactment of a law to protect illegality?" he stressed.

Speaking on the return of some 32 artefacts to the Manhyia Palace by the British Museum on a three-year-long loan has reignited a sense of pride in the Asante heritage and the creativity of artists.

He noted that the return of the artefacts has been welcomed with much pomp and pageantry, demonstrating the reverence the Asante people and Ghana have for the cultural objects.

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According to the Asantehene, engagements for the restitution of the looted artefacts, which started 50 years ago, would continue throughout his reign till the artefacts were restored to their rightful place.

Manhyia Museum opens doors

The Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi opened its doors to visitors on May 1, 2024, as part of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II’s Silver Jubilee celebrations.

The newly refurbished museum exhibited never-seen-before historic Ashanti heirlooms to the public in its new homecoming exhibition.

This follows a landmark agreement between British museums and the Ashanti monarch that resulted in the loaning of 32 royal treasures plundered from the Asante Kingdom 150 years ago to the Manhyia museum for 3 years.

The exhibits feature 15 items from the British Museum and 17 from the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).

Also, the Fowler Museum in California repatriated seven artefacts in February 2024.

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Asantehene tours Manhyia Museum

YEN.com.gh reported earlier that Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II toured the Manhyia Museum, displaying its latest valuable artefacts.

He meticulously examined the artefacts stolen from the Palace during the Sagrenti War of 1874, which were recently returned from the UK and US. British troops looted the items during the third Anglo-Asante War of 1874.

A unique Otumfuo Osei Tutu II statue has also captured attention for its remarkable quality.

Proofread by Berlinda Entsie, journalist and copy editor at YEN.com.gh

Source: YEN.com.gh