The Ga Mantse, Nii Teiku Tsuru II, has narrated his path to becoming a traditional leader—a journey he never anticipated.
Born in Accra, the man who now serves as the paramount chief of the Ga people, Nii Teiku Tsuru II told Lexis Bill on Joy FM’s Personality Profile that “being Ga Mantse was far from my line of thought.”
“Even if I wanted to be a leader, I never thought that I would be blessed and honored to serve my people in this capacity,” he begins.
Reflecting on his birth, the Ga Mantse said his mother, following prophetic advice, returned to Ghana while pregnant with him after losing two previous pregnancies.
“On the third issue, which was me, she had to fly back to Ghana, and she delivered me here. She then returned with me to Cambridge six months later,” he recounted.
According to him, he had to start life in the United Kingdom since his father was then a PhD student at Cambridge.
But the family later moved to Kumasi in the Ashanti Region after his dad upon completing his PhD course took a position at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Architecture, eventually becoming the Head of Department and the Dean of Architecture.
Living in Kumasi for over 25 years, his connection to Accra was minimal.
“The only time I got to come to Accra was when I was traveling out of the country. And even when I returned, that same day, I’d go by domestic flight or STC bus back to Kumasi,” he explains. “There was nothing that held me to Accra,” he narrated.
Nonetheless, Nii Teiku Tsuru II was grateful to his parents for insisting that he and his siblings learned the Ga language and customs.
“…This was very important to my dispensation,” he noted.
His perspective began to change when he did his national service at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) in Accra.
It was through this service that he visited most of the suburbs in Accra including Bukom, Osu, La, Teshie, and Nungua.
“So it was this job that opened up Accra to me,” he recalls.
Despite his deep roots in Kumasi, where he even runs a sanitation business, fate had other plans for Nii Teiku Tsuru II.
Today, he embraces his role as the Ga Mantse, committed to serving and uplifting his people including setting up the Ga Mantse Foundation where young girls and needy but brilliant students in Ga Communities are supported.
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