I think that for many people who followed the Fetu Afahye 2024, one of the abiding memories of the festival was the compelling video of a little boy having what looked like a tete-a-tete with the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the Cape Coast Emintsimadze Palace.

He was seen handing over to Otumfuo a flag he was carrying, as he purportedly made a rather astonishing request. He then left and returned minutes later to take the flag back.

According to the video’s audio, the little boy had asked Otumfuo if he would like to hold the flag for him while he went to urinate!

Looking on was the Paramount Chief of the Oguaa (Cape Coast) Traditional Area, Central Region, Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II, who was sitting next to the festival’s Special Guest of Honour, Otumfuo.

Smiling, Otumfuo accepted the flag and though Osabarimba, laughing, indicated that Otumfuo should give him the flag to hold, Otumfuo declined and held the flag until the little boy returned a few minutes later to take it back. A truly heartwarming, indulgent and gracious gesture!

Predictably, the palace incident generated massive interest, especially on social media. People clearly found amusing and incredible the idea of a little boy so innocently daring to give Otumfuo an assignment, especially because of the alleged reason for the request!

But did the child, popularly known as ‘Chief Justice’ (CJ), really have a need to respond to an embarrassing, rather inconvenient nature call at that time? Did he truly give that as the reason for his unusual request to Otumfuo?

No, the video was doctored; a fake voice-over was added. C J didn’t make that request to Otumfuo, as was confirmed to me by a number of different sources. Sadly, the little boy was a fake news victim.

Not surprisingly, the video went viral and it became headline news, conceivably mostly because of the lie. One video headline was “How small boy ordered Otumfuo Osei-Tutu in Cape Coast”!

When I came across the video, having previously published a feature on the Afahye, about its very witty radio commercial, I, too, was excited. Indeed, so fascinated that after the festival, I decided to do a follow-up on the story.

That is how I discovered that the video voice-over was FAKE, quite different from what C J had actually said to Otumfuo! It was a prank by a yet unidentified prankster.

C J’s father, Nana Otu, told me that what his son had said to Otumfuo was simply: “NANA, PLEASE I WANT YOU TO HOLD MY FLAG, FOR ME TO GO AND COME (I’ll be back in a minute).”

It was because the child had just seen a queen mother who he is very close to and decided to go and greet her! Obviously, a little boy has no idea of protocol, not to mention royal protocol in this case!

Yet, the misleading voice-over, translated from Fante language, had concocted an irreverent: “Nana, do you want to hold it (the flag)? Take it! I’m going to urinate and come back”!

And the reason for asking Otumfuo to hold the flag? Nana Otu explained to me that he has instilled into his son the sacredness of such flags and the importance of not disrespecting this particular flag with Otumfuo’s name on it. On no account was the flag to be put on the ground or floor, as that would be gross disrespect to Otumfuo, and this lesson his son had understood very well.

Therefore, when CJ felt the need to go and greet the queen mother, his solution to the dilemma of what to do with the precious flag during his temporary absence, was to ask the ‘Nana’ who had been so nice to him, to help!

A highly disturbing side of the remarkable occurrence is that it reflects the growing menace of disinformation and misinformation as the video audio was added, faked. And this daring mischievousness is a concern, notably in this hectic election period.

Still, the good humour of Otumfuo and Osabarimba during the amazing incident at the Emintsimadze Palace, on September 7, the climax of the festival, was another touching and unforgettable aspect of that scene.

Evidently, the innocent audacity of a little boy making that request to Otumfuo of all people is what generated instant humour. He had been chosen by Osabarimba, who is one of the gifted little boy’s admirers, to welcome Otumfuo to Emintsimadze Palace with a special cultural performance.

Dressed in a bright red masquerade costume, and holding a special festival flag, CJ danced so expertly, that, impressed by his stellar performance, Otumfuo invited him to a place of honour, to stand close to him. That is how come later the boy happened to be sitting with Otumfuo and Osabarimba. The flag, bright red with a white trim, had the inscription “OTUMFUO, AKWAABA”.

Aged seven, Justice Masko Mackey Otoo, is better known as ‘Chief Justice Empire’, or just ‘Chief Justice’. In fact, Chief Justice is what everybody calls him, his father, Nana Otu (alias Mr Otoo), told me. Because of his first name, Justice, some people had added ‘Chief’ to it, and it has become his name. The ‘Empire’, is in recognition of his all-round abilities.

‘Masko Mackey’, is the name of an American benefactor, a professor who sponsored Nana Otu’s secondary school education and in appreciation, he decided to name his son after her. 

A class 2 pupil, CJ undeniably demonstrates the traits of a child prodigy. From videos I have watched, he’s clearly a culture whizz-kid; a multi-talented performer in the cultural and creative arts field. An astonishingly and spontaneously eloquent narrator far beyond his age, he’s also a skillful drummer and a spellbinding dramatic poet.

Among other accomplishments, he also dances admirably; and reads text effortlessly. Amazingly, despite his precocious performances, he celebrated his seventh birthday only last month, August 2024.

However, doubtless his most spectacular talent is stilt walking, an activity which Cape Coast and the Central Region are reputed for. Indeed, his father told me proudly that CJ is the youngest stilts walker, and participates in cultural events featuring stilts displays by their troupe, the ‘Justice Masqueraders of Cape Coast’.

Stilts walking is an expertise C J acquired from his father, a former stilts walker. Nana Otu himself is a talented designer and tailor of masquerade costumes. The all-important Otumfuo welcome flag was one of his creations.

However, the troupe’s name being the same as his son’s name is just a coincidence, he explained. The motto of the troupe, formed some 20 years ago, happens to be ‘No Justice, No Peace’. He and his wife, Esi, have two children CJ and his sister, Maame Ama, who is older.    

Nana Otu said although CJ had heard of Otumfuo, it wasn’t until afterwards, following an explanation, that he understood fully in whose royal company he had been, together with Osabarimba. Then, super excited, he immediately asked his father if they could go and visit Otumfuo at Manhyia Palace, in Kumasi!

The fake audio was apparently someone’s careless idea of spicing up the incident. But clearly, had it not been for the good humour and graciousness of Otumfuo himself, it could have led to some misunderstanding in some quarters, if not anger.

Earlier, responding to my enquiries, it was some media colleagues in Cape Coast who alerted me that the voice-over was allegedly faked.  Then a member of the Fetu 2024 Planning Committee, broadcast journalist Kojo Yankson, too confirmed that it had been someone pretending to be CJ.

Mr Yankson told me: “He never said the words you hear in that video. I was there. He left the flag with Otumfuo when (he went to see) a queen mother in the front row. He then returned to Otumfuo’s side. The voice asking to go pee was added to the video by someone, just for laughs.

“I think it was meant to create laughter. I doubt the prankster foresaw the level to which people would be fooled by it. But it does sound realistic, so it has become the narrative … People just find it hilarious.”

Incidentally, I discovered that Mr Yankson, host of the popular Super Morning Show on JoyFM was the creator of the terrific, “bombshell” Fetu Afahye radio commercial, I recently wrote about. Fittingly, its background music was A B Crentsil’s popular evergreen highlife ‘Ye Wo Adze a Oye (Osokoo)’ – which loosely translates as ‘We have something good (in the Central Region)’.

Nana Otu said he has not been able to find out who did the voice-over. But, considering the incessant questions from concerned family and friends, if he ever gets to know the culprit, he will give him a piece of his mind. Another result is that now at school CJ is being teased with the refrain, “Nana hold it for me, I’m going to urinate and come back”.

However, CJ has gained another nickname from his Emintsimadze episode, ‘Otumfuo Nana’. That one, his father said, CJ doesn’t mind, in fact, “he’s cool with it.”

Nevertheless, it’s regrettable that this innocent child has become a victim of the disinformation and fake news that is a fast growing ugly face of the social media space.

As indicated earlier, this is especially worrying as Ghana counts down to Election 2024 on December 7. And already some electoral candidates have had to refute false information about them.       

Why add that embarrassing voice-over, saddling the child probably with a lifelong undeserved label?

Undeniably, little Chief Justice, in the words of A B Crentsil, has good things for Cape Coast, the Central Region and Ghana. His is an awesome talent for his age. A rare gem of a cultural and creative arts performer; and aged just seven years!   

And to those asking about the fake voice-over, his father says Chief Justice has this response: “please go and ask Otumfuo or Osabarimba.”

Ajoa Yeboah-Afari

BBC correspondent (‘Focus on Africa’ programme, 1984 – 1996); President, Ghana Journalists Association (October, 2003 – May, 2006); first Public Affairs Officer, Commonwealth Secretariat, London, (January, 1997 – September, 2002); Editor, Ghanaian Times (January, 2004 – November, 2008); and former ‘Thoughts of a Native Daughter’ columnist of The Mirror.