Government will not interfere in chieftaincy disputes

Kajoperi (U/R), March 20, GNA - The government is committed to playing a neutral role in chieftaincy matters and would do nothing to influence the installation of any chief.

Mr. Ambrose Dery, the Upper West Regional Minister who said this, asked contestants to any vacant skin to use due process instead of resorting to violence to resolve their disputes. He was speaking at a meeting with the elders and a cross section of the people of Kajoperi in the Nadowli district where the chief died last year and they were yet to enskin a successor. The visit to the area was part of his familiarization tour of the region, during which he interacted with the traditional authorities. Although the government's neutrality in such matters would never be compromised, he warned that it would not remain passive when people used violent methods to achieve their ambitions.

"When you are deciding to use weapons to settle your differences, you must also remember that the nation has the requisite arsenal of weapons to counter any form of violence from any community."

He advised all ethnic groups in the region to continue to live in peace without which no meaningful development could be realized. Mr Dery told the people of Kajoperi and its satellite communities who had sent a petition to the government to allow them to join the Wa East District that their demands were being looked into.

The Regional Minister, however reminded them that the district assembly boundaries were established by the Law and it was only the Law that could alter them, and therefore urged them to accept whatever the outcome of the petition would be. The regent of the community, Mr Bakpaha Begri said the youth in the area were interested in tree planting but the acute shortage of water during the dry season had become a major constraint to them. He therefore appealed to the government to help them address that problem by constructing a dam in the community.