Chiefs should be given due recognition - Local Government official

Mr. Alex Opoku-Boamah, a Director at the

Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, on

Friday observed that unlike the recognition of their rightful roles in the

pre-independence era, traditional authorities have now been relegated to the

background and are only called
in to grace occasions.
He noted that during the pre-colonial times, chiefs took the front role

in all aspects of local governance, such as ensuring law and order,

mobilization of the people, socio-economic development and legislation.
Mr. Opoku-Boamah, who made the observation at a 'validation

workshop' on a study on the “role of traditional authorities in local

governance”, at Elmina, described the current situation as “most unfair”.
The workshop which was organized by the Ministry in collaboration

with the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), under its Support for

Decentralization Reform, was to present findings and recommendations

made during the study for the deliberation and inputs by chiefs, assembly

members and queen mothers to enhance local governance.
The Director, said in spite of the fact that even the colonialists realized

the importance of the local authorities and “partnered” them in ruling the

country, especially in the maintenance of law and order, chiefs “were

pushed away in post-independence activities”.
He said as a result, traditional rulers, who had hoped to have their

powers restored, are now only “remembered” during inauguration of

projects or other social functions, and expressed regret that, “people are

ready to recognize chiefs as custodians of culture, but not their rightful

place in local governance”.
Mr. Opoku-Boamah, pointed out that culture was not just about

drumming and dancing but the entirety of the people's way of life and that

chiefs must therefore be involved in various developmental processes.
According to him, this had become imperative in view of the fact that

there were many “eminent professionals” such as development analysts

and strategists, who are traditional rulers, and that, “it would be unfair to

play down their roles”.

He also expressed concern about the low representation of chiefs at

the assemblies and said they were only “casually consulted” and said the

situation was “an insult” to them.
Mr Opoku-Boamah, said the study, was therefore initiated to help

enhance traditional authority and local governance in general and expressed

the hope that the participants would make the desired inputs to make the

workshop worthwhile.
The President of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, Nana Kwamina

Ansah IV, was however of the view that the contemporary view of the

institution as a debased traditional structure that has no meaning in the lives

of the people, derived from negative attributes that the institution clothed

itself.
He noted that the ascension of stools by unqualified and rich people,

the practice of obnoxious traditional and customary norms like

widowhood and prolonged funeral rites and the way some chiefs carried

themselves in public, “make nonsense of the view that the chieftaincy

institution is awesome, sacred and carried sanctity with it”.
He noted that the 1992 constitution has charged traditional authorities

with responsibility that make them role players in government, and said

there was an urgent need for a re-engineering of the institution to meet the

aspirations of the times.
“The redefinition of the functions of the chief in order to integrate him

in the current national development process is key to the total and concrete

participatory stand of the chief in local governance”, he stressed.
In a keynote address read for him, the Minister of Chieftaincy and

Culture, Mr. Sampson Kwaku Boafo, underscored the importance of

traditional rulers, in relation to governance at the local administration level,

for effective national development.

Mr Boafo said it was in respect of this that strategies needed to be

formulated to facilitate their integration and their roles strengthened to

effectively partner government in the development of the nation.
The Minister therefore, expressed the hope that a research being

conducted in the 10 regions of the country on the codification of

customary law relating to lands and family will put an end to the various

chieftaincy disputes that arise out of land issues.
Mr Bernand Guri, of the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and

Organizational Development (CIKOD) whose organization carried out the

study in collaboration with the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) of

the University of Cape Coast, gave a summary of the report of the study.
He said the study which was conducted in four districts each in the

Central and Brong Ahafo Regions, indicated that many people are of the

view that the chieftaincy institution was still relevant.
He said it was also found that there was little integration of traditional

authority structures in the decentralization system at all levels, whereas the

assemblies believe that they have created sufficient structures for

participation of traditional authorities in planning at the sub-district levels.
Mr Guri disclosed that issues like the establishment of a royal college

and funding of traditional authorities from the central government needed

further discussion and clarification by the traditional authorities and district

assemblies.
The Omanhene of Esikado, Nana Kobina Nketsiah, who presided, also

underscored the important role chiefs play in national development and

expressed concern that although the nation's coat of arms portrayed this,

the chieftaincy institution had been ignored, while the adopted form of

governance and that initiated from other countries, had rather “have moved

to the grassroots”.