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20.01.2015 Chieftaincy

Confusion Over Kwesi Pratt's Chieftaincy Enskinment  

By Daily Guide
Confusion Over Kwesi Pratt's Chieftaincy Enskinment
20.01.2015 LISTEN

There is public outcry over the enskinment of the managing editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital. Some of the residents have asked the kingmakers to immediately strip him of the title.

Kwesi Pratt was last Sunday afternoon enskined by the Gulkpegu Naa Alhaji Alhassan Abdulai as the Yelvuhi Naa (to wit: a chief who can speak his mind without fear or favour).

His enskinment had however, not gone down well with some of the  residents in and outside Dagbon, and had accused him of allegedly showing gross disrespect to the chieftaincy institution in the past, citing comments he made to the effect that it (the chieftaincy institution) had outlived its usefulness in a democratic dispensation.

Pratt had on several occasions attacked the traditional authorities, describing them variously as anachronistic.

Many admitted the fact that the Gulkpe Naa has the authority to create chieftaincy titles under his jurisdiction, but noted that it was unacceptable to confer such titles on persons who are on record to have attacked the integrity of the chieftaincy institution.

Many inhabitants in Dagbon told DAILY GUIDE that they were yet to come to terms with the reality that Kwesi Pratt Jnr. had been conferred with a chieftaincy title, wondering whether it was not out of   political expediency that the kingmakers took 'such a weird decision.'

Whereas a section of the populace in Dagbon concluded that the Yelvuhi Naa titile was a sell-out and condemned the action entirely, others pointed out that people like Sydney Abugri, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Alhaji Rasak El Alawa and many others, deserved the title rather than Mr. Pratt.

They noted that his enskinment was a complete mockery of chieftaincy titles up north and appealed to the kingmakers to as a matter of urgency, withdraw it as it could be a major cause for them (kingmakers) to lose respect among their subjects.

Mr. Pratt's enskinment comes less than a fortnight after President John Dramani Mahama and Inusah Fusseini, Minister for Roads and Highways, were conferred with chieftaincy titles at Yendi and Lamashegu respectively for their contributions to these areas in various endeavours.

 From Stephen Zoure, Tamale

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