Mike Gizo Has Lost Shai Paramountcy Legal Battle

Chief of Agomeda, known in private life as Mike Gizo has been defeated in a legal battle he initiated last year seeking to be declared Paramount Chief of Shai Traditional Area.

He filed a case at the Greater-Accra Regional House of Chiefs on October 30, 2017, seeking among other things, an interlocutory injunction on the gazetted Paramount Chief, Odeopeor Martey Kodjoe Away IV, from carrying himself as such and from being admitted into the National Register of Chiefs.

The former Tourism Minister also asked the House to declare that the Shai paramountcy had moved to Home Division, where he belongs adding that as the lawful and customary chief of Agomeda, he is the rightly paramount chief of Shai Traditional Area.

But in its May 17, 2018 ruling, the three-member Judicial Council of the Greater-Accra Regional House of Chiefs held that Nene Nagai Kassa VIII has no capacity and no locus to ask for those reliefs because he is not a member of the Shai Traditional Council.

They explained that by law, a chief ought to have his name on the National Register of Chiefs to be a member of a traditional council.

"The Committee has found as a matter of fact that the name of Nene Nagai Kassa VIII is not in the National Register of Chiefs, he is, therefore, not a member of the Shai Traditional Council," the ruling stated.

The Judicial Committee also held that the Regional House of Chiefs has no jurisdiction over the case Nene Nakai Kassa VIII brought before them so they cannot grant his reliefs.

They explained that per Sections 22 and 76 of the Chieftaincy Act of 2008, Act 759, the Regional House of Chiefs has jurisdiction over several matters relating to chiefs but not over their admission into National Register of Chiefs, houses of Chiefs and traditional councils.

"We will, therefore, dismiss the application firstly for want of capacity of the Petitioner/Applicant and secondly because we do not have the jurisdiction to go into the matter," the ruling stated.

Following from the ruling, Odeopeor Martey Kodjoe Awah IV has assumed office as the rightful Paramount Chief of Shai Traditional Area, a member of the Shai Traditional Council and a registered member of Chiefs in the country until a court of competent jurisdiction says otherwise.

He has since extended an olive branch to all and sundry, including Nene Nagai Kassa VIII to come join hands with him for the development of Shai State.

Meanwhile, the Judicial Committee noted that whereas they do not have jurisdiction over the substantive matter of the case, the petitioner is free to seek redress in a court of competent jurisdiction.