Registrar class of Houses of Chiefs to be reformed

The registrar class of the Houses of Chiefs and Traditional Councils is to be reformed to improve its capacity, efficiency and effectiveness in support of the chieftaincy.
Mr Joe Donkor Issachar, Head of Civil Service, said this at a two-day national retreat of the Registrars in Ho under the theme, "Retooling the Chieftaincy Institution for Good Governance", the role of the Chieftaincy Class", sponsored by the GTZ.
Mr Issachar called for collaboration among the ministries of Chieftaincy and Culture, Public Sector Reforms and the Office of Head of Civil Service to initiate such reforms.
Mr Issachar also directed the MCC to "enrol registrars on the many skills, knowledge and capacity development programmes at the Civil Service Training Centre, the Government Secretariat School and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration".
He said in addition to academic qualifications, the Registrar needed requisite competencies, knowledge and skills to be able to perform the functions of his or her office.
Mr Issachar said the Registrar is the fulcrum around which revolves the effective administration and proper functioning of the respective Houses of Chiefs
"Unfortunately, the Registrar Class is not performing as well as it should", he observed.
Mr Issachar said a motivated, resourceful, knowledgeable and confident corps of registrars is needed to help find solutions to the myriad of chieftaincy problems in the country.
He said registrars could for example research into and keep accurate verifiable and reliable records of succession lines of stools and skins, which has been at the core of many chieftaincy disputes in the country.
The Minister for Chieftaincy and Culture, Mr Sampson K. Boafo, said until recently, the salaries and other conditions of service of the registry class of the Houses of Chiefs and Traditional councils were the worst among civil servants.
He said chieftaincy "would need very effective support system to play its modern role of partnering government to realize its developmental goals.”
"The problems facing the institution are indeed many", Mr Boafo said and expressed the hope that adequate resources would be made available to it for training and "enhanced conditions of service".
The Volta Regional Minister, Mr Kofi Dzamesi, blamed chieftaincy disputes on some chiefs and elders, sometimes with the connivance of some personnel of the Houses of Chiefs and traditional councils, who show open bias and distort information in attempts to aid certain candidates and factions.
Mr Dzamesi appealed to registrars to come out with recommendations to enrich their professional expertise and the chieftaincy institution.