Nana Ama Konadu Yiadom III was born in 1927 to the 13th Asantehemaa, Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem III (1977-2016), and Opanin Kofi Foffie, commonly known as Koofie or Keewuo of Besease near Atimatim, a Kumasi suburb.
He was a carpenter by profession. Nana Ama Konadu Yiadom III, the 14th Queen of Asante, was the first of five children born to Asantehemaa The youngest child, Nana Afia Kobi, was Asantehene Otumfour Osei Tutu II.
During her adolescence, traditional puberty ceremonies were performed to launch her into womanhood. Thereafter, she married Opanin Kwame Boateng, a blacksmith from Aduman, near Kumasi.
Nana Panin was separated from her real mother at a very young age, just over a year old. She was nursed and handed to her aunt’s sister, Nana Afia Konadu, in Ashanti New Town (Ash-Town), a Kumasi suburb.
Nana Ama Konadu Yiadom III, also known as Nana Panin in her youth, received an informal palace education that prepared her for life, despite the fact that she did not attend any formal schooling. Nana Panin was christened and baptised into the Saviour Church of Ghana in 1959, when she was about 22 years old, under the name Ruth.
By convention, she was also a member and patron of the Anglican Church, as every Asantehene and Asantehemaa is.
Nana Konadu Yiadom III worked as a caretaker, specialising in local foods. She was also into food crop farming and small-scale trading.
Her passions were cooking, music, and dance. Nana Ama Konadu (Nana Panin) was chosen to succeed her mother, the Asantehemaa, Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem III, who died in 2016 at the age of one hundred and eleven (111), on February 6, 2017, with the stool name Nana Ama Konadu Yiadom III.
This fulfilled the Kwaku Firi Shrine prophecy through the Asantehene’s senior linguist, Baafuo Osei Akoto.
Nana Konadu Yiadom III, who reigned from 2017 until 2025, was noted for being fair and firm, honest, and an effective advisor. She had her wins counted, and all of her decisions were deemed fair.
The Saviour Church of Ghana named the Nana Konadu Saviour School in Bonwire after her.
May she rest in complete peace.
A tribute by O-B Safo Kantanka (Teacher Kantanka)
Credit: myjoyonline.com