British politician Paul Boateng has expressed a deep sense of pride in Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II’s visit to the United Kingdom last year for the coronation of King Charles III.
Paul Boateng highlighted the significance of the visit, noting the pride and pleasure it brought to Ghanaians and people of African descent in the UK.
His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and his wife, Lady Julia, were received at Buckingham Palace on May 4, 2023, ahead of the coronation. They led all royal heads invited to the coronation at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023.
During the third Akwasidae festival on March 31, 2024, Paul Boateng joined the celebration and expressed his admiration.
“We honour you. We also bring you the greetings of all your loyal subjects and many friends in the United Kingdom. We recall with great pleasure and pride the picture of you being received by our King at Buckingham Palace.”
He also highlighted the historical relationship between the UK and the Ashanti Kingdom, noting the resistance of the Asante Kingdom to imperial rule.
Paul Boateng noted that from King Charles I to his successor, King Charles III, all monarchs have had a special relationship with the Gold Coast (now Ghana), Ashanti, and Ghana as a whole.
Paul Boateng attended the festival with his wife, Lady Janet Boateng, who has been involved in raising money and support for the Child Cancer Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Ghana.
He noted that her gesture was inspired by His Majesty’s contribution to the welfare and health of the people of Asanteman.
“Lady Janet and myself could not be in Ghana without coming to greet you and pay you our respect,” Boateng said, emphasizing the importance of the visit and the enduring bonds between the UK and Ghana.
Profile (source: Britannica)
Paul Boateng is a British politician who became the first person of African descent to serve in a British cabinet when he was appointed (2002) Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
He was the son of Kwaku Boateng, a lawyer who served as a cabinet minister in the Ghanaian government of Kwame Nkrumah, and Eleanor Boateng.
After receiving a law degree from the University of Bristol, Boateng became a solicitor, focusing on housing, police, and women’s issues.
In 1981, Boateng won the election to the Greater London Council. Having been unsuccessful as a Labour Party candidate for the House of Commons in 1983, Boateng was elected to that body in 1987, becoming with Bernie Grant and Diane Abbott one of the first persons of African descent to win a seat in the House of Commons.
After the Labour Party won the 1997 general election, he served successively as a junior government minister for health and home affairs and as financial secretary to the Treasury.
In May 2002, he became the first black British cabinet secretary when he was appointed chief secretary to the Treasury.
He retired from the cabinet and the House of Commons in 2005. In 2010, Boateng was made a life peer.
