Re: No more chieftaincy crest number plates —Interior Minister

Reference is made to a story on the graphic online on Saturday, March 1, 2025, with the above caption.

The story said that the Interior Minister, Muntaka Mubarak, in a meeting with the Greater Accra Regional of House of Chiefs, raised the issue of embossing chieftaincy crests, rather than number plates, on chiefs’ vehicles.

The minister issued the ultimatum to paramount chiefs to register their vehicles by close of business on March 31, 2025, or risk having vehicles impounded.

This directive by the minister is not only timely and appropriate but shows a bold and singular act of strong leadership by him.

As a responsible Ghanaian with an interest in strong leadership, I have personally visited the ministries of Chieftaincy and the Interior and the National Security in 2024, to draw their attention to this fact of the usage of the chieftaincy crests as number plates and other acts of arbitrariness in the chieftaincy space.

Indeed, this chieftaincy-related indiscipline was supported by the government.

Thus, for the past eight years, the chieftaincy space has been characterised by acts of unnecessary competition, arrogance, political partisanship, divisions, acrimony and a false sense of entitlement and superiority by some paramount chiefs.

Now, in this country, every paramount chief wants to be referred to with a title, like His Royal Majesty; they want motorcades and police bodyguards.

In fact, some paramount chiefs in the Greater Accra, Northern and Eastern regions have sought to deliberately elevate some divisional chiefs within their paramountcy to also become paramount chiefs under them, an act which is in blatant contradiction to our chieftaincy act.

The question is, what is the motivation for such acts?

Again, some chiefs are engaged in blatant destruction of the environment.

These chiefs, in their quest to elevate themselves through their actions and inaction, have become lawless, reckless, intimidating and violent.

It is time for our paramount chiefs to appreciate their respective status in society.

The government, through various legal instruments, has recognised the role of traditional authorities, particularly paramount chiefs, in preserving culture and traditions in the country.

However, that recognition does not give them the opportunity to take any action contrary to laws.

The Minister of the Interior needs the support of everyone in this effort.

Kwaku Yeboah,
Atiwa West,
Eastern Region.