Brong Ahafo Chief cries over Mahama's snub

The paramount chief of the Dwenem Traditional Area in the Jaman South District of the Brong-Ahafo Region, Nana Bofobene Gyeabour, who doubles as the vice president of the Regional House of Chiefs, has reportedly regretted the conduct of President John Dramani Mahama.

The president was said to have snubbed him and his traditional area in his current tour of the region.

Sources inside the traditional council wondered how the president could have bypassed the Dwenem Traditional Area – which is a paramountcy – and more so, the Vice President of the Regional House of Chiefs, and travelled to Drobo, the district capital, where he (Nana Bofobene Gyeabour) was expected to join other traditional rulers for a durbar.

According to sources, Nana wondered how he could present challenges facing his traditional area to the president in another paramount chief’s territory, adding that the invitation to all chiefs in Jaman South, including Japekrom, to a durbar at Drobo to meet the president was also improper because the people of Drobo and Japekrom have a long standing chieftaincy dispute which the president and his entourage wanted to sweep under the carpet.

Efforts by Nana Manhene to correct the anomaly by the Brong-Ahafo Regional Coordinating Council, which was in-charge of the president’s itinerary, proved futile.

Political observers in the region are of the view that it was not unintentional as Nana was sidelined because of his reported critical observation of the government’s performance in Jaman South.

Inside sources say though Nana Gyeabour chaired the recent teachers’ award ceremony at the Sunyani Jubilee Park, the idea might not have gone down well with the president and his entourage.

Johnson Aseidu Nketia, General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), allegedly refused to pick Nana’s call when the Omanhene made the attempt to report the anomaly to him, inside sources told DAILY GUIDE.

The paper, however, could not confirm whether Nana Bofobene Gyeabour boycotted the president’s invitation or not.