Respect the Chieftaincy Act; President of Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs tells Ga-Dangmes

The President of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, has admonished Ga-Dangmes to respect the Chieftaincy Act and the chieftaincy institution.

He said respect for the institution would engender peace and ultimately promote development.

Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI was speaking at the end-of-year meeting of the Osudoku Traditional Council at Osuwem last Friday.

He said every human institution was governed by rules and regulations and anywhere rules and regulations did not work, there was no respect for authority, a situation which affected development.

Rules and regulations

Nii Dowuona, who is also the Paramount Chief of the Osu Traditional Area in Accra, said traditional councils were statutory bodies which were governed by rules and regulations and must be accorded respect. He added that any paramount chief who was properly installed went through processes of registration and induction from the traditional council, through the Regional House of Chiefs to the National House of Chiefs and swore oaths, including the judicial oath and the oath of secrecy.

According to him, he had observed, especially in the 13 traditional areas in the region, that the Chieftaincy Act was not respected by the people and that they engaged in acts to satisfy their selfish interests. That, he said, needed to stop.

Nii Dowuona VI likened a paramount chief to a pastor of a church who had elders and deacons to help him make decisions, as well as a large congregation and where the elders and the deacons refused to take instructions from the pastor, it affected the entire church.

“Chiefs are the ones to help develop communities in their traditional areas and fight poverty which is our common enemy. I, therefore, entreat the people of Osudoku to come together and avoid petty squabbles that would derail the development of the area and support the paramount chiefs for development,” he said.

He said although Ga-Dangmes were found in different or diverse locations in Ghana, they were the same people. What affected one traditional area, therefore, affected the other indirectly, hence the need to intervene when challenges arose in any of the Ga-Dangme areas.

Challenges

The Paramount Chief of the Osudoku Traditional Area, Aadegbor Ngmongmowuyaa Kwesi Animle VI, listed a number of challenges he was facing in his traditional area which included land litigations, chieftaincy disputes among the divisions, indiscriminate establishment of information centres and establishment of the Gbesedorm Divisional Council office at Osuwem.

Nene Animle said so long as he remained the paramount chief of the area, he would see to it that wrongs which occurred before he became chief were corrected and appealed to the people to put the past behind them and cooperate with him to move the area forward.

A delegation from the Ada Traditional Area graced the occasion, as well as the Member of Parliament for Shai-Osudoku, Mrs Linda Akweley Ocloo. She donated a cow, 10 bags of rice, cooking oil and an undisclosed amount of money to support the programme as part of her Christmas gift to the traditional council.