Chiefs Must Respect The Constitution Of The Country

There is a very good reason why the framers of the 1992 Constitution, decided to bar our chiefs from engaging in active politics.

Chiefs have a special place in our societies; they represent our heritage and act as our conscience, they make up for where politicians have failed.

They head our various communities and tribes, their subjects are adherents of the various political parties we have, it is the more reason why chiefs, must not be seen to align to any political party.

They are agents of change, how they comport themselves and act as catalyst to bring development to their people, is very important.

To be able to discharge their duties dispassionately, they must be seen to be neutral and in order to do this; they need to stay clear of partisan politics.

Unfortunately, our chiefs for selfish reasons, and in clear violation of the Constitution, have been falling over each other to endorse one presidential candidate or another.

The sign is a disturbing one that calls for all well-meaning Ghanaians to speak up; we cannot afford to lose our chiefs too to politics.

A chief is like a father or family head, who must treat every member of the family as equal, he must not take sides, his neutrality is very vital in ensuring that, he still maintains his respect before his subjects.

The first thing every politician does, when he or she visits a town or village is to call on the chief, if the chief, has endorsed a presidential candidate, exposing his biases, how can he be visited by the other candidates and what signs does that send to his subjects?

The Constitution was clear, Chiefs are like Judges, who should at all times, be above partisan politics, they are the people we call on when things don’t go well, we should be able to trust that, they will attend to all of us regardless of party affiliation.

They have equal stake in the governance of this nation, but as leaders they know the difficulties involve in managing people and their expectations, it is the more reason why, when they join their subjects in demanding the impossible from governments, some right-thing people, begin to question whether they understand, what it means to be a leader.