Chief Fined 7 Sheep …For Comments On Rawlings

Nana Nanabanyin Ninsin-Imbeah II, head of Mfantse community at Angola/Oforikrom in Kumasi, and also the Nifahen of the Mfantseman Council in the Ashanti Region, has been fined an amount of GH¢ 400 in addition to seven sheep.

His offence was for daring to call for sanctions against former President Jerry John Rawlings for his utterances during the June 4 rally in Kumasi, which was published by The Pioneer, a Kumasi-based newspaper.

The fine was imposed at a meeting convened by a panel of the Nia division of the Kumasi Traditional Council, headed by the Asokore Mamponghene, Nana Boakye-Ansah Debrah II, on October 9, 2011, meant to resolve an impasse between Nana Ninsin-Imbeah and head of the Mfantseman Council in Ashanti, Nana Akorful Owese.

While the Omanhene of the Mfantse community, Nana Arkorful Owese is accusing his Nifahene of being disrespectful, for which he attempted to suspend him, Nana Ninsin-Imbeah, in turn, is calling for accountability on the part of the Mfantse overlord in Kumasi. In arriving at the decision of a fine, the panel took into consideration concerns raised by Nana Owese that his Nifahene had by the said publication dragged the Mfantseman Council into politics, as if the Council was partisan.

The Chronicle newspaper sources at the October 9 meeting at Asokore Mampong, said Nana Owusu Bempah, Buokromhene, and a panel member, grilled Nana Ninsin-Imbeah over a June 13, 2011 publication by The Pioneer, a local newspaper, in which the Mfanste Nifahen had called for the suspension of former President Rawlings from National Democratic Congress (NDC) functions, for his utterances during the June 4 rally.

Nana Ninsin-Imbeah, who is also a former senior cadre of the December 31 Revolution, had, as per the publication, called on the National Committee of the NDC to suspend former President Rawlings from attending any of its functions, until he had substantiated his claim that some people in government were corrupt and in bed with the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Nana Owusu Bempah asked Nana Ninsin-Imbeah to apologies for allegedly trying to drag the Mfantseman Council, and for that matter, the chieftaincy institution into politics which he (Nana Ninsin-Imbeah) obliged to in the name of peace.

One of the seven sheep would be sent to the Manhyia Palace to officially announce the outcome of the settlement, while three sheep and the amount of GH¢400 would go to appease - the Mfantseman Council. A group called ‘Osode’ at the palace would benefit from the remaining three sheep.

Nana Ninsin-Imbeah was given a grace period of two months to pay up the fine.