Resolve chieftaincy disputes

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has entreated the chiefs and the people of the Osudoku Traditional Area in the Shai-Osudoku District in the Greater Accra Region to use dialogue to resolve prevailing chieftaincy disputes in the area.

He said he was aware of the pockets of chieftaincy disputes in the area and advised all dissatisfied parties to employ the services of the judicial committees of the Osudoku Traditional Council, the Greater Regional House of Chiefs and the National House of Chiefs to find a lasting solution to the issues.

The President said this in a speech read on his behalf by the Deputy Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mr Paul Essien, at the celebration of the annual Aadegbor Djehayemi Festival of the chiefs and the people of the Osudoku Traditional Area last Saturday.

It was on the theme: “Mobilising our human and natural resources for socio-economic growth through traditional leadership’’.

The Aadegbor Djehayemi Festival is celebrated in September every year to mark the migration of the people of Osudoku from the Osu Hills to their present location in September 1892.

The colourful event witnessed the display of the rich traditions and culture of the people.

 Nene Aadegbor Ngmongmowuyaa Kwesi Animle V, the Paramount Chief of the Osudoku Traditional Area,  and the Queenmother, Nana Dokua Amposah II, at the durbar

Development

The President said prolonged chieftaincy disputes and negative practices such as environmental degradation were inimical to the development of any community and,
therefore, urged the people to help in bringing finality to existing chieftaincy disputes in the area.

He said as part of efforts to reduce chieftaincy disputes and promote peace and development in the country, the government had decided to increase resources to chieftaincy institutions to support traditional councils to expedite the adjudication of chieftaincy cases in their respective jurisdictions.

He said the government had also initiated a number of projects in the Shai-Osudoku District, of which the Osudoku Traditional Area was a beneficiary.

The projects included the construction of the Nyapienya District Assembly School, the 4.2-km Adakope Junction-Dunyokope Junction road and the rehabilitation of the Lomen Bridge that linked Akuse to Asutsuare.

President Akufo-Addo commended the Greater Regional Minister, Mr Ishmael Ashitey; the Shai-Osudoku District Chief Executive, Mr Daniel Teye Akufo, the security agencies and other stakeholders for their respective contributions to the sustenance of peace in the area.

Cultural revival

Mr Ashitey, for his part, said it was the government’s desire to support the revival of cultural values through traditional festivals to promote tourism and national identity.

He expressed the hope that the Osudoku Traditional area would achieve much from tourism if the waterfalls, ancestral caves, wildlife and forests in the are were harnessed.

According to the minister, traditional authorities were playing significant roles in inculcating moral discipline into society, but said a lot more needed to be done.

He said with the formation of youth groups and other associations in various communities, one would expect that some negative practices could be minimised, if not eliminated completely.

Mr Ashitey mentioned moral decadence, which he said was on the ascendancy, leading to armed robbery, murder and kidnapping, which had become societal challenges.

“It is about time we purged ourselves of charlatans and miscreants who have nothing to offer society but take advantage of innocent ones,” he said.

Appeal

The Paramount Chief of the Osudoku Traditional Area, Nene Aadegbor Ngmongmowuyaa Kwesi Animle V, appealed to the government to carve out the Osudoku Traditional Area from the Shai-Osudoku District to form the Osudoku District and the Osudoku Constituency.

He also called for the establishment of senior high schools (SHSs) at Tokpo, Agbekotsekpo, Adakope and surrounding villages to prevent students from crossing the Volta River to the Volta Region on a daily basis to access SHS education there.

Present at the event were the Osudoku Traditional Queenmother, Nana Dokua Amposah II, divisional chiefs and some personalities.