Dr Daannaa advises Ga chieftaincy factions

Source: Daily Graphic Ghana - Disputing factions in the Ga chieftaincy row have been asked to exercise patience as the case, which is pending before the court, is heard.

An application for injunction seeking to bar the newly installed and gazetted Ga Mantse, Nii Adama Latse, from being inducted into the Ga Traditional Council and holding himself as the duly recognised Ga Paramount Chief has been filed by an opposing faction and is currently pending before the High Court.

Addressing journalists at a press conference organised by the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs yesterday, Dr Henry Seidu Daannaa, the minister, also appealed for restraint and a little more time for the finalisation of a chieftaincy research project that would put at bay all running disputes in the chieftaincy institution across the country.

“The ministry is again by this medium appealing to all those who matter in the Ga royal estate to exercise patience in the spirit of wisdom of chieftaincy so that it will be possible for the ministry and the National House of Chiefs to pursue the Ga chieftaincy research into succession to its logical conclusion,” he stated.

He, however, emphasised that going by the Chieftaincy Act 2008, Act 759, people who were dissatisfied with the entry of the name of any person as a chief in the National Register of Chiefs of Ghana, had the right to challenge such entry before a court of law for such person’s removal.

“Therefore, as long as the recently installed chief, Nii Adama Latse, had his name in the national register of chiefs, for the time being he is qualified to perform statutory functions,” he explained.

Dr Daannaa, who said the press conference had been convened following several calls from various stakeholders for clarification from the ministry on the Ga chieftaincy fracas, also asked the faction that enstooled a new Ga Mantse last Sunday to exercise some restraint.

“The ministry is therefore appealing to those who enstooled a new Ga Mantse on Sunday, August 2, 2015, to slow down so that the court process will work accordingly, considering the fact that the issue of the induction of Nii Adama Latse, whose name for the time being is in the register, is at present before the court,” he stated.

According to Dr Daannaa, the National House of Chiefs began a research project on the Codification of Lines of Succession to Stool/Skins in Ghana in 2000, which aimed at delving into the Ga chieftaincy history, with the aim of codifying the lines of succession to the Ga Mantse stool.

He said, unfortunately before the research report could reach verification stage, the then Ga Mantse, Nii Amugi II, passed away, which resulted in a dispute and protracted litigation.

Dr Daannaa nonetheless said when the research, which was being conducted in all 10 regions of the country, was completed, it would once and for all settle the matter of the royal clans that could enstool and destool chiefs.

Those present at the press conference included the La Mantse and Vice President of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, Nii Kpobi Tettey Tsuru III; the acting President of the Ga Traditional Council, Nii Dodoo Nsaki II; Nii Ayikai III, Akamajay Mantse, and Nii Ayi-Bonte II, the Gbese Mantse.