Traditional rulers have called for a revision of the provision in the Constitution that bars chiefs from active politics, since chiefs are partners in the development of their areas of jurisdiction.
“It is envisaged that chiefs could be empowered more to actively play more important roles in the governance of their traditional areas,” they said.
This was contained in a communique issued by the chiefs at the end of a five-day workshop for chiefs and staff of some traditional councils at the Otumfuo Centre for Traditional Leadership (OCTL) at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) last Friday.
The chiefs also called for the joint management of special funds generated in various traditional areas by the district assemblies and the traditional authorities.
“The time has come for all traditional authorities to ensure transparency, accountability and inclusiveness in the governance of their respective areas,” they said.
The chiefs acknowledged the importance of the training they had gone through and asked that such training be encouraged, promoted and developed to the tertiary level.
Support training
The Consulting Director of the OCTL, Lepowura Alhaji Mohammed Nuru-Deen Jawula, in his closing remarks, appealed to the government and its stakeholders to support the institute in its obligation to build the capacity of chiefs nationwide.
He said it was necessary for chiefs to be well-versed in governance issues to ensure the security of their subjects, adding that conflicts in the sub-region could be minimised if chiefs mediated professionally.
For his part, a retired Supreme Court judge, Mr Justice Stephen Brobbey, said chiefs needed to be recognised by state actors to allow them to operate effectively, since chiefs contributed to the governance system in the country.
According to him, the last time the National House of Chiefs had a review of its Constitutional Instrument (CI) was in 1972, CI (27) ,while that of the High Court, CI (47), was reviewed in 2004.
That, Mr Justice Brobbey said, was a challenge to the judicial system of traditional institutions, adding that it was difficult to apply judgement which was ascribed 43 years ago.
He urged stakeholders in governance to organise courses for chiefs to enable them to upgrade themselves periodically.
