Security Analyst, Mr Richard Kumadoe, has intimated that the issue of chieftaincy in the country has to be confronted further to bring a solution to it.
Reacting to the President’s comments on government spending so much in resolving chieftaincy issues, Mr. Kumadoe suggested that those in authority need to be frank, honest and transparent in addressing the issue. He then advised authorities to look at the administrative side of who becomes a king, how they are documented and how one person can be destooled.
According to the security analyst, the nation has been running away from tackling the issue of chieftaincy because it’s tradition. This, he stated, is where the nation is failing in addressing the issue at hand.
“You realize that in the case of Bawku, for instance, we keep on tackling this whole issue, we keep on spending money and sending security there knowing very well that security does not affect tradition when it comes to chieftaincy issues and how we can manage the process of who becomes a king.”
Mr Richard Kumadoe
The Security Analyst concurred with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s view that Ghana is spending too much resources in trying to settle chieftaincy disputes. Mr Kumadoe indicated that the nation must find ways of bringing all the factions within the traditional areas together as a way of minimizing the amount of resources spent in resolving the issues.
Chieftaincy Ministry has been ineffective
Richard Kumadoe intimated that the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs has not helped in resolving chieftaincy-related conflicts in the country. He explained that the Ministry was created to tackle, among other things, issues relating to Chieftaincy but has failed to deliver on its mandate.
“I agree with the President, we’ve spent so much time in tackling old tradition in the system and we should find a way as a nation in bringing them in a coherent manner that will make them more productive. Remember in the wisdom of founders of our nation they had a whole Ministry for Chieftaincy, I think that Ministry has been a bit ineffective and that is why we are having much problems in that area.”
Mr Richard Kumadoe
His comments followed President Akufo-Addo expressing worry that half of the National Security budget is spent on resolving chieftaincy disputes in parts of the country.
Launching the Kwahu State book at Mpraeso in the Eastern Region, President Akufo-Addo averred that the documentation of traditional council state books would help resolve Chieftaincy disputes. “Upon assumption of office, I realized that we spend financial resources in resolving chieftaincy conflicts. We spend a lot of money trying to resolve chieftaincy disputes in all parts of the country.”
The Kwahu State book is a 3000-page document containing the history, culture and customs of the Kwahu state.
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