Queen Mothers to Get a Fix at House of Chiefs

President Akufo-Addo has asked all Queen-mothers to exercise patients as his government deliberates with the National House of Chiefs to include Queen-mothers in the various Regional Houses of Chiefs.

The National Council of Queenmothers at a meeting with the President lamented the lack of representation at the Regional House of Chiefs.

President Akufo-Addo said the government would continue to dialogue until they find a solution.

“We will continue to dialogue and see how best this matter will be resolved; we can't use force to get you in there. You have a legitimate case but the best thing for us to do, is to continue dialoguing with them,” he said.

In 2014 the Chieftaincy Minister, Dr. Seidu Danaa said the Legislative Instrument is being developed to give legal to include Queen-mothers in the National House of Chiefs.

According to him, the exclusion of Queen-mothers from the National House of Chiefs would create problems of parity since the 1992 Constitution specifies a chief as including Queen-mothers.

The Chieftaincy Ministry noted that it will also focus on building capacity for the National House of Chiefs to ensure that the process of chieftaincy reforms continue across traditional areas nationwide.

Former First Lady of Ghana, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings , in November 2017 called for gender balance within the House of Chiefs.

This she said would afford queen-mothers the respect that traditional Ghanaian culture gave women before colonial rule.

“Culturally, we refer to nature as 'asase yaa' and women are held in reverence spiritually and culturally, so why the disconnect in our contemporary society where women are treated as second-class citizens,” she questioned.

“Can someone give me reasons why our queenmothers are not permitted into the House of Chiefs? There really is no reason besides the fundamental fact that they are women and that is it,” she stated.

---citinewsroom