Ngleshie Alata (James Town) traditional area elevated to paramount status

Accra, April 18, GNA - A colourful durbur characterised the inauguration of the Ngleshie Alata Traditional Council at Mantse Agbonaa –James town, to symbolise its elevation to paramount status.

The elevation followed recommendations made by a Committee instituted by the National House of Chiefs to look into the merits or otherwise of applications for the elevation of some divisional stools in the Ga Traditional Area to that of a paramountcy

This followed a resolution by the House through the establishment of two sub-committees in accordance with the 1992 Constitution, and the Chieftaincy Act, 2008, Act 759.

The ceremony saw chiefs and queenmothers displaying their splendour and glamour as they graced the occasion, walking the length and breadth of the ceremonial ground and waving to their subjects and invited guests, after which dignitaries, including the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, Mayor of Accra, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije and the Former Attorney General, Justice Crabbe, took turns to reciprocate the gesture.

It was a day of pageantry as the chiefs and queenmothers sat in state as the drums beat amidst performances by cultural troupes, who took turns to display their prowess in dances to the admiration of the gathering.

With the elevation, areas such as Ga South, Ga West Municipalities and parts of Accra West owe allegiance to the Ngleshie Alata Stool.

It is the expectation of the National House of Chiefs that the paramount status will enable chiefs to bring their expertise and experience to bear on the activities and deliberations of the House so that it would become a force to reckon with.

However, the six divisions of Ga Mashie, namely, Asere, Sempe, Gbese, Otublohum, Abola and Akumadze, would remain as part of the Ga Traditional Council

On November 19, 2011, three stools in the Ga State were elevated to paramount status at a colourful ceremony at the Guggisberg Memorial Hall at Dodowa.

During the ceremony, Wulugunaba-Pugansoa, Naa Professor John Nabila, President of National House of Chiefs, said “It is gratifying that the problems which threatened the unity and harmonious functioning of the House, in the latter part of 2009, had been resolved amicably”.

The impasse was between the Ga and Dangme Chiefs in the Eastern Region House of Chiefs, and more seriously, the imbalance in the number of paramount chiefs of Ga and Dangmes.

The case has been that, whenever a Ga chief was elected as President of the House, a Dangme chief will automatically be elected the Vice President, and vice versa.

This system is said to have worked well between the Akans and the Ga Dangme, who formed the Eastern Region House of Chiefs.

The induction into the House of Chiefs would help strengthen the existing cordial and healthy relationship among members, and enhance their efforts to work even harder and find solution to the numerous chieftaincy disputes, Prof. Nabila said.

GNA