12 Chiefs on collision course with Konor of Manya Krobo

The paramount chief of Manya Krobo Traditional Area, Nene Sakite II, is reeling under intense pressure from the Manya Aklomuase Division of the Manya Krobo Traditional Council to explain circumstances that led to a unilateral decision to allow a Kuwaiti national to lead a group of unknown persons to excavate and claim to be cleaning caves in their ancestral home, without the consent of any of the Divisions of the Krobo State.

A strongly worded petition, which was signed by 12 chiefs, including Okpatakpla Sasraku IV, Manya Aklomuase Matse, was delivered to the paramount chief on Wednesday, the 5th of November, 2014, at the time two divisions, Akwernor and Suisi, stayed away from programs marking this year’s Ngmayem Festival of the chiefs and people of Manya Krobo.

The petition states that: “We, the chiefs, queens, elders and people of the Manya Aklomuase Division of the Manya Krobo Traditional area, hereby write to petition you, NENE SAKITE II, Konor of Manya Krobo over two key grievances/issues for redress. These grievances are;

1. The excavation of historical relics from the Krobo Mountain without any form of consultation with the divisional councils

2. Multiple installations of chiefs at Akateng Nene, you will recall that in July 2014, a controversy emerged over an alleged excavation of artifacts from the Krobo Mountain by people who are said to have been authorized by you, Nene Sakite II.

Whilst you insisted that the project was to clean the caves and turn them into tourist sites that could bring revenue to the traditional area, we the chiefs of the Manya Aklomuase Division believe that you did not follow due processe, neither were you forthcoming with information concerning the project, even up to today.

Nene, you initially denied knowledge of what was going on in the mountain when some of our chiefs approached you.

You later said that they might be archaeology students from the University of Ghana, but at last, you admitted to being the sole authorizer to the Kuwaiti man and his team, who have been excavating several relics from the Krobo Mountain. Nene, this naturally breeds suspicion, which is not good for social cohesion.

The Krobo Mountain (Klo Yo) belongs to all Krobos who settled on it, in their divisions. All the divisions have different traditions they perform for the dead before burial in the olden days, at the mountain site.

It is a taboo for a Krobo to exhume the remains of their ancestors without performing the appropriate traditional rituals.

However, this has been violated as evidence shows that, there has been a massive excavation at the Manya Aklomuase section of the Mountain without us, the divisional councils, nor the Djemeli having any information about it. Going by your side of the story, No one knows the terms of the contract with the Kuwaiti and his team, how long it will take and if any benefits will accrue.

This is not traditional and not democratic and has the potential to disintegrate us, if care is not taken. There should have been consultations and the documentation of the agreement thereafter on paper before any form of authorization should have taken place.

It is even more worrying that months after this issue received national attention and was subsequently published in the Daily Graphic, dated Thursday July 10, 2014, pages 40-41, whereby the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board called on you to halt the process, do your consultations and acquire a license, work has continued steadily without any communications with the divisional councils. Nene, this does not bode well for community solidarity.

We write to put on record that, you cannot all by yourself, assign a project without consulting your divisional chiefs, as well as the entire traditional council.

We demand that you should open up and call all the divisions in Manya Klo to study whatever documents there are on the project, to access its feasibility, funding and whether it will be beneficial to the Manya Klo state. Our second major grievance is the multiple installations of chiefs at Akateng. Akateng Matse has always been the preserve of Manya Aklomuase, because we are the custodian of the land.

The selection and installation of chiefs is the prerogative of the people in specific areas which demands chiefs and not that of the Konor, whose traditional duty is to receive the chiefs so installed.

Sixteen years ago, a chief was installed by the people of Akateng with your consent, Nene Sakite II, with the stool name Akateng Matse Anyasor I from the Manya Aklomuase Division and he is still alive and reigning as chief of Akateng. Recently, you announced that you have installed another chief at the same Akateng and you will outdoor him soon. This has definitely sparked bitterness and disunity in Akateng.

Nene, this actions and inactions of yours is creating feud, divisions, misunderstanding and disunity, which if care is not taken will lead to unrest in the entire Manya Krobo State.

In the Gold Coast chiefs list (Revised Edition 30th June 1941, page 44), Nokotoma Kwao Opata from Djebiam was not chief of Akateng but rather Akatateng, a place that may now be ‘burried’ under the Volta Lake.

In the same Gold Coast chiefs list, page 46, Nokotoma Batsa Angmor from the Manya Aklomuase division was chief of Akateng.

The list did not state that one of these chiefs should be superior over the other and so for you to pronounce at a traditional council meeting held on Friday, 17th October, 2014, in response to a question posed by Asafoatse Otu Apima, that the chief you have installed will be the head and that any other chief will have to serve under him is not only divisionary, but illegal.

Due to the above and the continuous questioning of some of your actions by Okpatakpla Sasraku IV, you recently did the unthinkable by ‘demoting’ him from the acting position in your absence.

The Manya Aklomuase Division is unhappy about this state of affairs being created in Manya Klo and we urge you, Nene Sakite, to stop forthwith with the current trend of events.

Nene Sakite, we of Manya Aklomuase are aggrieved and we wish to bring it to your attention for redress. Thank you