Eminent Chiefs To Meet Over Dagbon Crisis

The government has asked the Committee of Eminent Chiefs (CEC) mediating the Dagbon crisis to reconvene and deal with the remaining traditional aspects of the chieftaincy problem.

The committee suspended its sittings last year because of the electioneering which was likely to interfere with the peace process and it has not reconvened since the change in government.

The Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, on Friday called on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who is the chairman of the CEC, at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi to inform him of the government's decision to support the committee to resume sitting and continue with the peace talks.

Since the carnage in Yendi in 2002, which resulted in the murders of the Overlord of Dagbon, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II and 40 others, the CEC has been mediating the conflict to restore peace in the area.

It has laid down a road map which is being followed and what is left are a few traditional aspects yet to be dealt with after the burial of the late Ya-Na Andani, which the people of Dagbon and the nation have been waiting for.

The committee is currently reviewing the Supreme Court ruling on the Yendi Skin Affair, as well as reports of all the commissions, into the Yendi Skin matter.

The two Gates of Dagbon, Abudu and Andani, have been at each other's throat since 2002 following the murder of the late Dagbon Overlord in the carnage.

The funeral of Ya-Na Andani would have followed per the time-table of the road map. However, the Abudus insisted on having the funeral of Ya-Na Mahamadu held in the Gbewaa Palace.

The Andanis said there were grounds for which the funeral of Ya-Na Mahamadu should not be held in the palace, since, according to them, he did not die in the palace.

The burial of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani has so far been the only element of the road map which has been successfully implemented.

The funeral celebrations would have paved the way for the selection of a successor to the late Ya-Na Andani.

The Vice-President, before moving into a closed-door session with the Asantehene to be briefed on the work of the committee, said he was aware that with the change in government, the committee had been waiting for a signal from the new government to be able to continue with its sittings.

“President Mills has asked me to inform you to resume your work as soon as possible in the quest for lasting peace in Dagbon,” he told the Asantehene.

Mr Mahama was accompanied to the Manhyia Palace by the Ministers of Defence and the Interior, Lt Gen Henry Smith (retd) and Mr Cletus Avoka, as well as Professor Kofi Agyekum, a member of the National Peace Council.

Before the closed-door discussions, the Asantehene said there was the need for politicians to stay clear of the chieftaincy issue so that the matter would be devoid of politics.

“Chieftaincy matters have their customs and ways of dealing with them and there is no way we should allow politics to interfere with these,” he said.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu said the unfortunate thing in the Dagbon issue was that the Andani faction thought it was part of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), while the Abudu faction also thought it was for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Thus when either party was in power, members of either faction decided to take the law into their own hands.

“We will not tolerate political interference in chieftaincy matters and will rather follow custom,” he emphasised.

He added that it behoved the government to deal with the criminal aspects of the matter, while the committee handled the traditional aspect.

The Asantehene said hopefully both parties in the conflict had understood the need to follow custom and also agreed to the laid down road map and expressed appreciation for the fact that the government had asked the committee to continue with its work.

“Indeed, it was the past government that mandated us to look at how we could bring peace to Dagbon and so with the change in government we expected the new government to give us the go ahead to continue with the work,” he said.

He said he would inform his two colleagues on the committee, the Nayiri and the Yagbon Wura, as soon as possible to enable them to reconvene.

Briefing the press after the closed-door session, the Vice-President said he was impressed and deeply encouraged by the work done so far by the CEC.

He said he was convinced that if the process continued, there would be lasting peace in Dagbon. He indicated that the committee would reconvene in August 2009 to continue with the dialogue in the quest for peace.

Mr Mahama said the Asantehene's call for politicians to back off the matter and leave the chiefs to deal with the issue was a welcome one.

He said the government would be impartial in the matter and said he had had a first-hand briefing of the work done by the committee and said he was amazed with the work.

Professor Agyekum said the media had a major role to play in the matter and called for objective reportage, especially from the electronic media.

“If there is peace in Ghana, there will be development. As a nation, we need to continue to preach peace,” he said.

Mr Avoka said it was a good signal that the two factions in Dagbon were now meeting together under one roof for mediation, contrary to what pertained when the issue started.