Bribery Rocks Brong Ahafo House Of Chiefs

Three paramount chiefs in Brong Ahafo region - Nana Asare Baffour from Tuobodom, Nana Oduro Boamah, Tano Boase and Nana Kwaku Yiadom Boakye, Tanoso - have accused their colleague members in the Regional House of Chiefs of taking bribes from unnamed sources to deny them the right to become members of the House.

In an affidavit accompanying a writ of mandamus filed at a Sunyani High Court, the chiefs alleged that: 'One of the Paramount Chiefs, who has been resorting to crude and unauthorised steps to 'colonise' the three stool lands, has paid huge and substantial amount of money to grease the palms of some leading characters of the Brong-Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs to thwart and stall the invitation of the three to participate in and attend meetings of the house.'

According to the three chiefs, there were no tendencies in their respective traditional areas that were likely, even remotely, to cause the breach of the peace, or result in violence, yet that is being used to deny them the right to become members of the House.

The embattled chiefs indicated in the writ that upon their joint instructions, their counsel set in motion a chieftaincy petition, which resulted in a judgment in their favour.

Again, upon their instructions, their counsel, Nana Obiri Boahen, successfully sought for an order of mandamus, compelling the National House of Chiefs to enter the names of the three in the Register of the National House of Chiefs as Paramount Chiefs of the Tano Boase Traditional Area, Tanoso Traditional Area, and Tuobodom Traditional Area.

The said order was drawn and same served on all parties. A search conducted by their Counsel at the National House of Chiefs revealed that the names of the three paramount chiefs were entered into the National Register of Chiefs on 19 July 2011.

Notwithstanding the fact that the three chiefs have been gazetted, the Brong-Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs has persistently refused, neglected, failed to recognise and treat the applicants as paramount chiefs of their respective traditional areas, they noted.

According to the affidavit accompanying the writ, counsel for the chiefs had written several letters to the Brong-Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs demanding the invitation of his clients to attend meetings of the house in their capacities as paramount chiefs. However, all such attempts have proved abortive.

The three chiefs consider the conduct of the respondent strange, unacceptable, and calculated to maliciously inhibit the applicants from performing their functions and taking their respective positions at the House in Sunyani.

According to the writ, the affairs of the Brong-Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs were being controlled and hijacked by some powers-that-be, and it is on the whims and caprices of the power brokers that their invitation to the House was being delayed.

The applicants stated that the much vaunted 'serious security issues', which formed the basis of the House of Chiefs' unwillingness, tardiness and negligence to invite them to the House to participate in the affairs, was rather fictitious and a mere façade.

The chiefs stated that from very reliable sources, they had been told that one of the Paramount Chiefs, who has been resorting to crude and unauthorised steps to 'colonise' the three stool lands, had paid huge and substantial amounts of money to grease the palms of some leading characters of the Brong-Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs, to thwart and stall the invitation of thethree to participate in and attend meetings of the house.

According to the three chiefs, there were no tendencies in their respective traditional areas that were likely, even remotely, to cause the breach of the peace, or result in violence, stressing that their invitation into the house, and their participation in the affairs of the house, cannot, and will not, result in violence or breach of the peace.