Ghanian King Thanks Easton for Hospitality with Gift of Art

By Christina Georgiou



Nii Guate Asuasa Ekasee Ako II, hereditary Custodian of the Gua War Stool and king of the Ga people of Ghana, presented three gifts of African art to the City of Easton Wednesday evening and expressed his gratitude to the city for their hospitality during his trip to the U.S. to garner support for peaceful elections in his country

Easton Mayor Sal Panto, standing right, presents a 1998
EAHS yearbook to Nii Guate Asuasa Ekasee Ako II, who
graduated from the school that year, known in his
youth before being crowned king of the Ga people
as "John Quartey."

Mayor Sal Panto, along with city council members, presented members of the Ghanian delegation with certificates and a number of mementos from Easton, including miniature Easton flags, while thanking them for their visit and the gifts from their homeland. Nii Guate was additionally given an Easton Area High School yearbook from 1998, the year he graduated from the school.

Panto, along with a few other city staff members, also received gifts of traditional African clothing earlier in the day, which Panto and the others wore to the city council meeting.

Nii Guate, who arrived with others on June 29, will be departing for New York City tomorrow, Friday, July 13, and going back to Ghana on Sunday, July 15.

He said that the visit here, while busy, has been fruitful and that he's grateful for the messages of support various leaders in several municipalities, both in Pennsylvania and other states, have given him to take back home.

But most thanks, Nii Guate said, must go to Easton, not only for the time he spent growing up and attending school here, but also for the city's recent hospitality in furthering his mission for peace and democracy in his country.

“I believe Easton is the first American city to help in peace in Ghana,” Nii Guate told city council members, adding that he intends to make that fact part of the official historical records of the Ga people when he arrives home.

Nii Guate also said he'd like to establish a relationship between the Ghanian capitol, Accra, and the City of Easton. While this is largely expected to by symbolic, cultural exchanges between the two are possible, officials said.

It wasn't immediately certain where the city will display the new art, comprised of two handmade traditional wooden masks carved by Nii Guate's royal sculptors, a lively textural painting of African women at work and a brightly colored abstract framed textile work, but somewhere in the mayor's office that is accessible to the public seems a likely location, at least in the short term.

Updated Friday, July 13 at 9:09 a.m. for a minor correction regarding the Ghanian delegation's departure date.