MAKING CHIEFTAINCY INSTITUTION TRANSPARENT

WHEN the Minister of Chieftaincy and Culture took his turn at the institutionalized Meet-the-Press series in Accra on October 26, 2010, his major focus was on a roadmap for the codification of lines of succession of the chieftaincy institution.

Mr. Alex Asum-Ahensah told the media that the ministry was working feverishly to finalize the succession plan by the end of this month to address the numerous chieftaincy disputes across the country.

He said the end result of the plan would be to ensure that prospective royal lineages and candidates to the stools and skins were clearly identified and documented to eliminate disputes and conflicts associated with the enstoolment of chiefs.

The codifications of lines of succession in traditional areas are long overdue and the Times hope that the Ministry would not renege on the issue to bring sanity into the nomination and enstoolment of chiefs.

It is indeed shocking that there are a total of 278 cases of chieftaincy disputes pending at the National and Regional Houses of Chiefs.

This shows the extent to which the chieftaincy institution, which is held in high esteem, is being abused by its own playmakers.

As we have observed, the cause of these disputes can be blamed on the behaviour and conduct of the chiefs themselves and their so-called kingmakers.

For monetary gains, some of these kingmakers flagrantly flout the laid down rules and procedures in the selection of candidates for various stools and skins.

In most cases, people with no connection whatsoever to the stools and skins and of doubtful character, manage to influence the kingmakers to make them chiefs.

There are also some chiefs who by conduct, have lost the needed respect of their subjects and, therefore cannot provide any inspirational leadership.

As we stated sometime ago, there are certain communities in the country that wish they had no person as chief. To them, chieftaincy should be scrapped because it offers nothing, save disunity and confusion among the people.

It is an acknowledged fact that where there is strife, there can be no progress. The nation is indeed, losing a lot in these disputes.

We believe that the codification of the royal lineages is very important in the view of the lack of transparency and abuse of stools and skins by people with questionable characters.

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                Ghanaian Times        Page: 4       Thursday, November 11, 2010