It is often said that the Chieftaincy Institution is the custodian of the culture of the Ghanaian people but Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., is of the view that the Institution has outlived its usefulness.
He has further called on the state to cease supporting the Chieftaincy institution because its practices and certain aspects of its customs are in contravention of the 1992 constitution.
“…the discrimination against blind people and so on. These are serious violations. The 1992 constitution frowns on discrimination against people on the basis of their handicap and so on, and the basis of the colour of their skin”.
“Yet, you have an institution which is being protected by the state, being encouraged by the state, which discriminates against blind people, discriminates against albinos, and discriminates against hunchbacks and so on…I have a fundamental problem with this institution,” he argued.
According to Kwesi Pratt, “for those who are inclined to believe that this is our culture as African people, I think it is a misunderstanding of history which leads to those conclusions”.
He further stated that there is no difference between the systems of monarchy in other parts of the world and the chieftaincy system in Ghana.
“It is the same system of Chieftaincy which imposes a monarchy on Belgium. It is the same system whether in Europe, Latin America or Asia. Other people are growing beyond this old, anachronistic, undemocratic system and moving into higher forms,” the social commentator opined on Metro TV.
He made these assertions during the discussion of the assassination of the Omanhene of Seikwa by unidentified assailants, on ‘Good Morning Ghana’.
Nana Kwaku Dwuma Ankoana II, who was enstooled as the Omanhene of the Seikwa Traditional Area about 17 years ago, shot to death in the chest at his private residence at 8.30 p.m. on Monday.
The incident occurred when the chief was said to be relaxing in the porch of his private residence, just two houses from the palace at Seikwa after he had returned home from a function to climax the annual festival of the traditional area.
The motive for the killing of Nana Ankoana, who was the Chief Executive Officer of Soapem Company Limited, a construction firm, is not immediately known.
The residents wonder what the reason could be for the murder since they claim there is no chieftaincy dispute in the area. The situation in the town is said to be volatile, a development which has prompted the police to beef up security to prevent any reprisal attacks.
