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Mr.Kweku Asomah-Cheremeh, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister has called on traditional rulers to help in efforts at building a more unified country devoid of divisions along partisan, ethnic and religious lines.

He observed that the nation derived its strength from the unity of the diversified ethnic groups making up its entire populace and entreated them to strive to live and interact in harmony.

The Regional Minister made the call at this year’s first general meeting of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs held in Sunyani, where the house enstooled him under stool name Aduonum, as a sign of honour.

The meeting was held to discuss issues affecting the House and the way forward.

Mr. Asomah–Cheremeh asked Nananom to collectively take the necessary proactive measures to put an end to the numerous chieftaincy disputes due to its negative impact on the development of the Region and the nation by extension.

He appealed to all aggrieved stakeholders whose cases were pending before the House of Chiefs and the law court to exercise maximum restraint to allow the institutions of state to use approved mechanisms in arriving at amicable resolutions of their cases.

The Regional Minister on the other hand urged chiefs and king makers to expedite the various processes towards the early resolution of disputes to give the Region a good image since the undue delays to adjudicate disputes usually culminated in tensions and uneasiness going on in some communities.

“Even though most of the chieftaincy disputes are not volatile and do not threaten the peace of the affected areas, there are few that needs urgent resolution before they got out of hand”, he said.

Mr. Asomah-Cheremeh expressed disquiet that chieftaincy disputes have been the reason for most Traditional Councils not having substantive paramount chiefs saying the situation apart from constituting major security concerns, was also affecting development in such areas.

“Your roles over the years in pulling human capital and all resources together to build a fair and prosperous society is appreciable and I urge you to continue”, Mr Asomah - Cheremeh added.

Nana Pimapem Yaw Kagbrese V, Paramount Chief of Yeji and President of the National House of Chiefs mentioned that the house had 42 chieftaincy cases pending before it, this consisted of 34 petitions and three appeals.

He stated that the House has now adopted Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to help deal with cases to pave way for the execution of development agenda of affected areas pledging the House’s support to work collectively with the Minister for the progress of the Region.