Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, the Osu Mantse and the President of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, has called for the creation of space for chiefs in the governance system.
He said: “A time has come for the recognition of chiefs as major players in the democratic dispensation and the development of the country and as such should be given access to governance and this does not mean being political.”
Nii Kinka Dowuona, who was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said: “I believe that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, being a royal, will involve chiefs in his incoming government.”
For instance, he said, matters of chieftaincy disputes should be left for the councils to handle rather than the judicial courts, to give recognition to Ghanaian customs.
He said the era where Municipal and District Chief Executives carried out development projects without the consent of the traditional authorities, which had caused a break in the chain of the decentralisation system in the decision-making process, should end.
Nii Kinka Dowuona, therefore, called for the strengthening of the chieftaincy institution and its structures to function efficiently.
“We have the traditional, regional and national houses of chiefs and it is prudent these institutions and their councils are respected and allowed to carry out their mandate without political interferences,” the Chief said.
He appealed to the Police not to issue out letters of permission and protection for the installation of perceived chiefs without the approval of the councils to forestall disputes and to bring sanity into the chieftaincy institution.
