70% of Nat’l Security budget is used to address chieftaincy disputes – Minister

The Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, has revealed that over 70% of the National Security budget is spent on resolving chieftaincy disputes related to security issues.

Speaking at the Royals Conference organized by the Church of Pentecost at the Pentecost Convention Center in Gomoa Fetteh, Stephen Asamoah Boateng emphasized the significant impact these disputes have on national resources.

“Chieftaincy cases are matters of concern to all of us and our body politic because it is on record that over 70% of the National Security budget goes into settling chieftaincy disputes across the country. These monies could have been better used if there were no disputes,” he said.

On policy intervention, the Minister said the Ministry has introduced the proposed National Policy on Religion, which aims to safeguard individual rights and freedoms regardless of religious beliefs and sanitize the religious front.

The drafting of the policy is a collaborative effort involving the National Development Planning Commission, the Department for the Study of Religion at Legon, the UNFPA, and church leaders.

“On the religious front, my ministry, with the support of various stakeholders, has undertaken regional engagements on the proposed national policy on religion. This exercise solicited input from identified stakeholders concerning issues affecting the religious space in our country,” Boateng noted.

He outlined several issues identified during consultations that the policy will address. These include religious intolerance, inhumane treatment, forced marriages, financial exploitation, political interference in religious programs, and noise pollution.

"These are all the issues that came up in our consultation. We also unearthed non-acceptance of inter-religious marriages, child marriage, and forced marriages. Religious fanaticism, noise pollution, money laundering, exploitation of the vulnerable in the religious landscape, limited documentation of the code of conduct of some religious bodies, and false indoctrination, inter- and intra-faith disputes, leadership succession disputes, little or no organizational structure or hierarchy, and incitement to violence sometimes in extreme cases,” he added.

The Minister said the National Policy on Religion is the Ministry’s first step to be followed by legislation for an independent body formed by the churches themselves, which will work on issues of self-regulation, self-management, registration of religious bodies, and managing the front.

The minister stressed the need for amendments to the chieftaincy law to grant traditional leaders more authority to resolve disputes.

“We are developing the laws of the chieftaincy to include very clear authority to be given to Nananom to resolve petty disputes. This already exists in the Act, but it has been disputed in the Supreme Court. We need to do some amendments, which I am working on closely,” he explained.

Additionally, the Minister proposed the creation of a Chieftaincy Development Fund and living allowances for traditional leaders.

“The central government takes resources; some must go back. We are proposing a chieftaincy development fund like the District Assembly Common Fund and are also looking at giving a living allowance,” he said.