Dormaa and Sunyani chiefs in hot exchanges over land

The Dormaa and Sunyani Traditional councils have engaged in accusations and counter-accusations over ownership of land.

The Sunyani Traditional Council (STC), led by the Paramount Chief, Nana Bosoma Asor Nkrawiri, was first to pull the trigger, when it organised a press conference and accused the Dormaa Traditional Council (DTC) of trespassing on its lands.

In reaction, the Paramount Chief of the DTC, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyeman Badu, expressed shock and dismay at the utterances, claims and even threats issued by his counterpart at Sunyani, during his press conference held in Sunyani last year.

Surrounded by the entire membership of the DTC, Oseadeeyo Agyeman Badu noted that as a fellow custodian of the treasured customs and traditions, “one would have expected the Sunyanihene, in the first instance, to have acted with decorum, by resorting to the traditional means of seeking redress in matters of such nature involving two traditional areas.”

At the said press conference, held by the Paramount Chief of Sunyani, Nana Bosoma Asor Nkrawiri alleged that the Dormaahene had been selling Sunyani lands.

According to Nana Bosoma Asor Nkrawiri, the Dormaahene had trespassed beyond the Tyco Filling Station in Abesim, to as far as the police barrier near the Sunyani Senior High School, to sell lands.

Again, the Sunyanihene gave the Dormaa Traditional Council an ultimatum to close down the office of the Dormaa Stool Land Secretariat in Sunyani by December, 31, 2009, which when not adhered to, would call for any possible means to close the secretariat by the Sunyani Traditional Council.

The Dormaa Traditional Council, led by its President, therefore decided to organise a counter-press conference on December 31, 2009, which was the deadline for the Sunyanihene's ultimatum for the closure of the Dormaa Stool Lands Secretariat in Sunyani.

According to the Dormaahene and his chiefs, there was no other alternative, than resort to the counter-press conference to set the records straight for the benefit of the general public.

The Dormaahene vehemently refuted the Sunyanihene's allegation that he had been selling Sunyani lands, insisting that it was a fact that the Dormaahene does not share any common boundary with the Sunyanihene, but with the Domasehene, since time immemorial.

Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyeman Badu indicated that the boundary with the Domase stool was marked by the Gubre Stream which flows into the Bisi Stream and far beyond, adding that important land marks, buildings and institutions such as the Sunyani Municipal Hospital, the Regional Hospital, the Nurses' Quarters and the Pastoral Centre, were all located within Dormaa Stool Lands.

According to the Dormaahene, the sub-urban settlement of Penkwase was also on Dormaa Stool Land, and by the first quarter of the year 2010, he (Dormaahene) would install a chief at Penkwase.

The Dormaahene described the Sunyanihene's allegation that he had trespassed beyond the Tyco Filling Station in Abesim to as far as the police barrier near the Sunyani Senior High School, as totally unfounded.

“The Sunyanihene's ultimatum to the Dormaahene for the immediate closure of the Dormaa Stool Land Secretariat office in Sunyani is most unfortunate,” Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyeman Badu stated.

According to the Dormaahene, even granting that the office is located on Sunyani Stool land, there is hardly any restriction that prevents the operations of a lawfully established office in any part of the country from providing legitimate services to the general public.

The Dormaa Traditional Council therefore deems the Sunyanihene's ultimatum to close down the office mere rhetoric, and that the Traditional Council, at its end of year meeting, unanimously decided to rename the building which houses the Dormaa Stool Land Secretariat in Sunyani as Aduana House, with effect from January 1, 2010.

The Dormaahene and the entire members of the Traditional Council noted that the utterances, accusations and threats of the Sunyanihene were considered as not only unfortunate, but total falsehood calculated to distort historical facts to attract undue public sympathy, to the detriment of the long-existing peace-loving and law-abiding Dormaa State.