Chief gives advice on land disputes

Ho, Dec 21, GNA - The President of the Volta Region House of Chiefs Togbega Gabusu VI, has urged Chiefs in the region to help curtail frivolous chieftaincy and land disputes and spare themselves the blame of scaring away investors wishing to do business in the region. He made the call at the end of the annual general meeting of the House at the weekend.

"It should therefore, be our primary objective as Togbewo and Mamawo to ensure that absolute peace and stability are not unduly jeopardise," he exhorted.

He observed that several land and chieftaincy disputes in the region could be avoided if the truth were upheld in such matters and early settlement of differences facilitated among Chiefs themselves. Togbega Gabusu said rather than being seen as stumbling blocks to investment and development, Chiefs in the region are duty bound to act individually and collectively in resolving land and chieftaincy disputes and to scout for and entice investors to the region to explore and exploit its potentially rich resources.

He said the positive influences which chiefs were capable of exerting on investment in the region were demonstrated during a visit by some of its chiefs to Canada to scout for investors under the sponsorship of the Council for Ewe Association in North America (CEANA) this year.

" We have showcased the Volta Region to the outside world and potential investors will soon begin to flow in for feasibility studies", he assured.

Addressing the meeting, the Volta Regional Minister, Mr. Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, said government regards chiefs as very influential in determining the level of relationships between it (government) and the people and its successes and failures.

He said it was for that reason that it would give the institution a free hand to manage itself by extending to it the required resources to perform.

Mr Owusu-Yeboa however, lamented the myriad of Chieftaincy disputes in the region and their blunting effects on the positive influences the institution could exert on the consolidation of peace and development of the region and the country in general.

He assured the House that acting on its appeal for Counsel for its Judicial Committee, President John Agyekum Kufour, has issued out the necessary instructions to have the problem addressed.

Some of the issues raised by the Chiefs included the need to bring the Aveyime Rice project into operation, lack of logistics for a Committee of the House to facilitate the resolution of the land dispute between the people of Alavanyo and Nkonya between whom there is growing goodwill to resolve their problem and the financial crunch suffered by the House thus crippling its work during the year.

Members expressed concern about the negative effects of the non-permanent status of a majority of members of the House and the prolonged absence of some permanent members of the House. Some members were of the view that it was a dichotomy for the government not to intervene in settling potential chieftaincy disputes only to expend scarce resources to contain conflicts arising out of such conflicts.

In their view, such a posture was tantamount to the imposition of double standards on the government by the laws of the country as there are many such simmering disputes whose escalation into clashes were being restrained by some of the aggrieved chiefs. Members expressed their appreciation of the efforts of government to address developmental problems in the region and called for effective supervision of the contractor working on the Tema-Aflao Highway to ensure observance of safety standards and quality work.