RE: Ga Mantse unveils Sacred Crown Awards

Reference is made to a story on some online portal on Tuesday, June 9, 2026 with the above caption.

In the said story, the paramount chief of Ga Marshie, Nii Tecko Tsuru is said to have launched a sacred crown award with the purpose of recognizing individuals, institutions and communities that are preserving and promoting African culture and also identify, honour and promote outstanding contributors in the area of integrity, impact, leadership, spirituality, wellness and services to humanity. The award category includes Spirituality, African heritage and wellness

I must say, this award is unnecessary, adds to the existing multiplicity of awards with its continuous erosion of public trust, does not promote economic development and a complete waste of resources.

It is purely an individualistic venture that seeks to do self-promotion rather than any collective critical service delivery for the people of Ghana.

It is important to remind ourselves that there are already several awards that celebrate mastery, creativity, entrepreneurship, craftmanship, leadership, community engagement and cultural preservation across several sectors of our country, including the Arts, Manufacturing, Business, Culture and Governance.

Awards such as the Gong Gong Awards by the Advertising Association of Ghana, TVET Excellence Awards by the Commission of TVET, Ghana Manufacturing Awards, Ghana CEO Awards and the AGI Ghana Industry and Quality Awards are few examples of awards that celebrate business excellence, craftmanship and mastery.

Again, awards like Otumfor/UNESCO Arts Awards, Sankofa Pan African Awards, Joy Impact Makers Awards and the National Photo Competition by the Ministry of Tourism also celebrate individuals, NGOs and public institutions engaged in tradition, heritage preservation, education and community engagement.

The three most prestigious awards in Ghana, the State Awards, Millennium Excellence Awards, and Ghana Club 100 Awards also honor leaders, individuals and institutions that exhibit extraordinary services, corporate excellence and transformative changes across academia, culture, youth development, business, public governance and national development.

Clearly, there are already enough awards in the system that are doing much better than what this new award by the Chief seeks to do. This new award is therefore unnecessary, a repetition of already existing awards, unprogressive, and will contribute nothing positive to the growth of this country.

While the title of the award itself, SACRED CROWN AWARD, is un-Ghanaian and un-African, the award also has no potential of bringing any unity, healing and transformation to the people of Ghana. The question is: how will this award help to preserve our spirituality and wellness as a people? What scientific and transparent metric can be used to award spirituality and wellness?

It is purely an egoistic publicity event, an image enhancement enterprise for the chief as part of his grand agenda to elevate himself above the other chiefs in Greater Accra.

The proliferation of questionable awards in Ghana over the years has gradually created what I call a “vanity award” system and has consistently showcased the devaluation of very true, well-intentioned, and meritorious awards with its attendant loss of public confidence.

We therefore cannot continue the practice of the wanton introduction of unmeritorious awards by individuals and institutions that are disguised as national events but quietly seek to promote individual parochial interest.

In fact, if there is any group of people that needs unity, identity, healing and transformation, it is the people of Ga Marshie, a community where Nii Tecko Tsuru remains the paramount chief. That community needs healing from filth, flooding and poverty.

Whiles I urge Ghanaians especially the Government, National Chief Imam and the media to boycott such unnecessary and self-promoting awards, I humbly want to appeal to the paramount chief of Ga marshie to abandon his unnecessary agenda of elevating himself above the other chiefs but rather, team up with his colleague chiefs in Accra and to begin to apply themselves diligently to the basic issues affecting his community, Ga Marshie in particular and the broader greater Accra for the general good of Ghana.

BY Kwaku Yeboah
Accra.
[email protected]