'King Tackie Tawiah will not be given royal burial'

Nii Oto-Ga said the Ga Paramount Dzase would not betray its heritage, tradition and customs by allowing, Dr Joe Blankson-Lartey, who was installed as King Tackie Tawiah III, to be given a royal burial.

He stated that the late Dr Joe Blankson-Lartey was never installed as the Ga Mantse by the legitimate kingmakers of the Ga Paramount Stool Dzase, the only accredited body mandated by Ga custom to nominate, select and install a Ga King.

He said against all Ga traditions, customary norms and practices, the disputed King sought to usurp the Ga Stool by allegedly conniving with renegade male and female Ga stool elders and with the active participation and support of some state functionaries against the will of the people of Ga Mashie to impose himself as a ‘legitimate Ga Mantse’.

“This sacrilege has resulted in the untimely deaths of a number of those who took active roles in his so-called installation,” he said.

Nii Oto-Ga noted that notwithstanding those tragic occurrences, those that installed him (Blankson) continued with all impunity to frustrate the legitimate kingmakers, despite six cases filed at the Regional Chieftaincy Tribunal at Dodowa against the late claimant’s attempt to usurp the Ga Stool.

“We wish to place on record that although we have established our cases at Dodowa, and he was called upon by the tribunal to open his defence, he refused to do so, treating the tribunal with contempt until his demise.

“For the past six years, the people of Ga Mashie have been subjected to the naked ambition of Dr Blankson-Lartey, a non-Abola indigene, in his attempt to usurp and change all Ga customs, norms, tradition and practices as far as succession to the Ga Stool is concerned,” he said.

Nii Oto-Ga said the legitimate Ga Mantse, Boni Nii Tackie Adama Latse II, was alive and well and performing all his traditional functions, and “for the avoidance of doubt, Nii Yaote Oto-Ga II is the only legitimate and recognised Ga Dzasetse of the Ga Paramount Stool.

He admonished all those he described as troublemakers, charlatans and renegades that their era of impunity was over and the Ga State would no more tolerate their indiscretions.

Story by Emmanuel Bonney