Chieftaincy disputes derail progress in Upper West House of Chiefs

Wa, Dec. 24, GNA - The Upper West Regional House of Chiefs has since 1998 not formed the quorum necessary for it to take major decisions towards its progress, due to the rising chieftaincy disputes in the region.

Out of the seventeen (17) paramountcies in the region, seven are under litigation at various levels of the judicial process, while one is completely vacant.

Mr Jude Goo, Acting Registrar of the house made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Wa on Thursday. The Wa Chieftaincy dispute is now before the Supreme Court, while claimants to the Issa Skin had been battling it out at the National House of chiefs.

According to him, Bussie, Daffiama, Nadowli and Pulma skins were all under dispute which are before the Regional House of Chiefs, with a faction at Nandom, which had renewed its claim to the Nandom paramountcy in a recent petition to the House.

He added that, though the Jirapa Naa died about six years ago, the king makers had not yet come out with a successor. With the reported death of Naa Abaifaa Karbo, Paramount Chief of the Lawra Traditional Area, the House is now composed of nine chiefs from Kaleo, Dorimo, Gwollu, Lambussie, Tumu, Wechiau, Nandom, Wellembelle and Zinni. Mr Goo blamed the delay in the adjudication of cases before the judicial committee of the House on the absence of a permanent counsel for the House.

"Currently, we depend on a State Attorney, who is based at Bolgatanga to handle cases before the House, which increases our expenditure. We have been appealing to the authorities to allow the State Attorney in Wa to handle the cases in the absence of a permanent counsel, but this request is not being accepted".

He, however, assured the litigants that the judicial committee would adopt normal court procedures next year to speed up the determination of the cases before it.