In a 24 June 1997 interview with the DIRB, a social science professor specializing in Ghanian society at the University of Toronto stated that the Asona is one of many Ashanti clans within the larger Akan group found in Bremen. He stated that each clan, including the Asona, has a royal family from which a queen mother is selected. The queen mother, he explained, is usually a sister to the chief (ibid.). In cases where the chief has more than one sister, a committee of elders will select a queen mother according to certain criteria including, age, level of education, physical size, and sometimes wealth (ibid.).

The professor further explained that the position of queen mother is prestigious and confers many social privileges on the holder. For example, the queen mother is the leader of women in the royal family and the community. Her duties include attending the chief's court, settling family disputes and initiating young girls in her community into womanhood (ibid.). The queen mother also plays a vital role in advising the council of elders in matters pertaining to the succession of a chief (ibid.). This information is corroborated by Dr. Peter Sarpong of Kumasi in his book Girls' Nubility Rites in Ashanti (1977, 3-4), and in Ernest E. Obeng's Ancient Ashanti Chieftaincy (1986, 14, 41).

The professor explained that due to the privileges and high status attached to the position of queen mother, very few selected women refuse the offer, and stated that he is unaware of any cases of women suffering retribution for refusing to accept an offer (ibid.). He also stated that different royal clans have different enstoolment rituals, and that he was not familiar with the enstoolment rituals of the Asona. For general information on queen mothers' stools, please consult the attached document.

For information on queen mothers in various royal families, please consult Responses to Information Requests GHA23525.E of 3 April 1996, GHA22422.E of 6 December 1995, GHA20900.E of 1 June 1995, and GHA17145.E of 9 May 1994, all of which are available at Regional Documentation Centres.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Obeng, Ernest E. Ancient Ashanti Chieftaincy. 1986. Tema: Ghana Publishing Corporation.

Sarpong, Peter. 1977. Girls' Nubility Rites in Ashanti. Tema: Ghana Publishing Corporation.

Social science professor specializing on Ghanaian society, Toronto. 25 June 1997. Telephone interview.

Obeng, Ernest E. Ancient Ashanti Chieftaincy. 1986. Tema: Ghana Publishing Corporation, pp. 3-4.

Sarpong, Peter. 1977. Girls' Nubility Rites in Ashanti. Tema: Ghana Publishing Corporation, pp. 12, 14, 41.