Govt to pay allowances of divisional chiefs, judicial committee members

The government will, from next year, pay allowances to all divisional chiefs and members of all the judicial committees of the various regional houses of chiefs, Mr Kofi Dzamesi, the Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, has said.

Additionally, it will procure 25 four-wheel-drive vehicles for the National House of Chiefs and other houses of chiefs to aid their work.

The move, Mr Dzamesi said, was in recognition of the enormous role played by chiefs in the development of their communities and the maintenance of national cohesion.

General meeting

Making this known at the last general meeting of the National House of Chiefs in Kumasi last Wednesday, Mr Dzamesi said the vehicles would be delivered to the houses of chiefs latest by the end of February next year.

He said the ministry was aware that many of the traditional councils were not functioning due to the absence of personnel to man the various offices.

To support the traditional councils to have functioning offices, he said, the ministry was making arrangements with the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo) to post some of its personnel to the various houses of chiefs.

Already, he said, the ministry had obtained clearance from the government for 3,000 NaBCo personnel to be posted to the houses of chiefs.

The minister briefed the National House of Chiefs on some issues pertaining to the chieftaincy institution and also the house about the work of the Committee of Eminent Chiefs that was tasked to find an amicable solution to the Dagbon chieftaincy crisis.

He said the committee had concluded its work and submitted to the government a road map which was currently being implemented.

House grateful

For his part, the President of the National House of Chiefs, Togbe Afede XIV, expressed his gratitude and that of the house to the minister for the visit and the support being extended to the house in the performance of its duties.

He appealed to his colleague chiefs in the regions where referenda would be held to ensure peace in their areas.

He said the peace of the country was more paramount than the division of the regions and tasked the chiefs to ensure that all parties were given equal chance to campaign.

According to him, no side must be victimised because it held a different view about the referendum and asked the security services to be on top of their job to provide the necessary security to maintain the sanctity of the elections.

Local Government

Also in the house to brief chiefs on the road map to the election of district chief executives by 2021 was a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Nana Akwasi Adjei Boateng.

He said the ministry had held consultative meetings with all the stakeholders involved and had developed a road map that would lead to the election in 2021.

He said since Article 55 (3) of the 1992 Constitution, which prevents political parties from taking active part in district level election, was an entrenched provision, it would require a referendum to repeal it to pave the way for the election of district chief executives.

He said a referendum had been scheduled for September next year to repeal Article 55 (3) of the 1992 Constitution.