The Minister of Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs has made a passionate appeal to the Northern Regional House of Chiefs to expedite action on the Bunkprugu chieftaincy issue before it.
Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, Dr Henry Seidu Danaa said the matter had been pending in the Regional House of Chiefs for the past five years, because there was no lawyer to help in the adjudication of the case.
“But now that there is a lawyer, I am humbly appealing to the Northern Regional House of Chiefs to come out with the judgement on the Bunkprugu chieftancy issue for peace to prevail.
“Though the government does not dabble in matters relating to chieftaincy, it will not shirk its responsibility of maintaining law and order in the country,” he said.
Tourching on the Dagbon chieftaincy dispute, Dr. Daannaa said the issue would be exhaustively discussed at the impending meeting of the National House of Chiefs to find a lasting peace to the Dagbon Kingdom.
He, however, called on the aggrieved parties of Dagbon and Bunkprugu, as well as their supporters to exercise restraint and wait patiently for the outcome as the ministry was working hard to resolve the chieftaincy issues.
The sector minister was hopeful that peace, which had not substitute, would reign in the chieftaincy institution when Parliament came out anytime soon, with the Legislative Instrument (LI) on the line of succession since the noble profession had of late been characterised by violence.
Dr Danaa said that the days people used violent means either on horses back or any other method necessary to become chiefs, were over and advised royals (princes and princesses) who were aggrieved on matters bordering on enstoolment or enskinment to seek redress either at the respective regional houses of chiefs or at the law courts.
Worried over current happenings in some traditional areas across the country, Dr Daannaa said that there was no region in Ghana without chieftaincy disputes and released the following figures to buttress his point regarding cases pending at the various houses of chiefs.
They are, National House of Chiefs 103, Brong-Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs 50, Western Region 42, Ashanti Region 39, Central Region 39, Volta Region 31, Eastern Region 13, Upper West Region 13, Greater Accra Region 10, Upper East 8 and the Northern Regional House of Chiefs 7 cases pending.
Dr. Danaa asked that dialogue, rather than violence, should always be employed to find amicable solutions to problems whose escalations could have disastrous consequences.
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