GA MANTSE, OTUMFUO SHOW THE WAY

THE Ghanaian Times cannot recall the last time an Asantehene and a Ga Mantse met one-on-one to discuss matters of national interest, apart from perhaps meetings of the National House of Chiefs.

So when the Ga Mantse, King Tackie Tawiah III and the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II met quite recently in London and held talks on national issues, it received wide media publicity.

Ordinarily, a meeting between these two prominent Ghanaian chiefs should not attract big headlines. But for a good number of reasons, the Times finds the London meeting very significant.

It was, not for nothing, that the framers of the 1992 Constitution, thought it wise to effectively bar chiefs throughout the country from engaging in active party politics.

The institution of chieftaincy, is a time-tested one, established by customary law and usage. Due to their unique positions in the society, chiefs are expected to be neutral to be able to rally their people for development.

Can any one imagine a situation, where a chief and his elders, openly belong to opposing political parties? Can that chief have the moral courage and a clear conscience to rule his people?

Unfortunately, some chiefs in Ghana have played themselves into the hands of politicians and are being used left, right and centre to cause confusion in the country.

It is, no secret, that some prominent politicians, engulfed in their inordinate ambitions, have it high on their agenda, plans to play one tribe against the other.

Unfortunately, they have found in some chiefs willing tools to carry on with their dangerous plans.

The meeting of the Ga Mantse and the Asantehene, is a clear message to those politicians that they have seen through their tricks, and would therefore not allow themselves to be used.

In the view of the two traditional rulers, party politics is of no special interest to them and that “whichever political party is in power has the overriding authority and our responsibility as heads of traditional areas, is to ensure effective understanding among our people.”

This is the kind of spirit, we expect our traditional rulers to demonstrate among their people, in our efforts to build bridges among the various ethnic groups in the country.

The Times joins Otumfuo Osei Tutu and Nii Tackie Tawiah in expressing delight at the amiable relationship between them and pray that their people would emulate them, irrespective of their political affiliations.