This should be the last time you disrespect chiefs - LPG Organizer warns Akufo-Addo

Yaw Asani Tano, the National Organizer of the Liberal Party of Ghana, has strongly cautioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo regarding his actions towards chiefs in the country.

Yaw Asani Tano expressed his concern that it is high time the President refrains from publicly disrespecting the revered chieftaincy institution.

“The president’s action in the public domain in this nature must be condemned, and he must apologize to the chieftaincy fraternity.”

His comments come in response to a recent incident during the Green Ghana Day, where President Akufo-Addo grew agitated and instructed the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, to call the Mempasem chief to order for failing to stand during the national anthem recitation.

Speaking in a panel discussion on UTV’s Adekye Nsroma on June 13, 2023, he argued that there is no provision in the constitution that mandates individuals to stand when the national anthem is been recited and thus he finds the president's actions disrespectful to the chieftaincy institutions and believes that he must offer an apology to the said chief.

Furthermore, Tano highlighted that this is not the first instance of the president exhibiting such behaviour towards chiefs. He recounted two previous incidents: one during a radio interview on Peace FM where the president suggested that a chief should construct his own building, and another during a visit to the Ashanti region where he advised the residents to vote for the opposing political party if they did not support him.

“If the president does not come out to apologize to the chiefs, I will be surprised in the sense that this is the third time we have witness the president disrespecting chiefs. One of them was in your own studio, Peace FM where he was asked a question about a particular building and he replied that the chief should go and build it if he was unhappy about its state.

“He went to the Ashanti region, one of the towns, the same thing happened. He told them that if they won’t vote for him, they should vote for NDC, and this is another, third time…so, you the president, cannot go on disrespecting the chieftaincy institution, when we have a whole Ministry for it. You can’t disrespect them like that,” he said.

Addressing the President directly, Tano emphasized that such actions cannot continue, particularly when dealing with the esteemed chiefs. He pointed out that the president would not have behaved in the same manner in front of influential chiefs such as Togbe Afede, the Okyehene, or the Asantehene.

“You the chiefs should begin to respect yourselves; the president couldn’t have done that in front of Togbe Afede, he couldn’t have done that in front of Okyehene our king, he couldn’t have done that in front of ‘Otikokooso’ (Asantehene) and many other chiefs.

“You don’t know the condition in which the chief was… the fact is that there is nowhere in the constitution that states that when a national anthem is being recited, it is a criminal offence for you not to get up, we have only been admonished to respect the anthem. Personally, I cannot even recite the anthem and I believe the president cannot even do that by himself.”

He further maintained that the President's repeated disregard for the chieftaincy institution is unacceptable and warned that the said incident should be his lats time behaving in such a manner towards a chief.

“…for a whole president to make those gestures in public, to make the Regional Minister look like a small boy …we cannot have the president continue to disrespect people he works with in this nature, I am urging the president that, this should be the last time he should behave like that to the chiefs,” he added.

Meanwhile, The Chief of Mempeasem, Nii Torgbor Obodai Ampaw VI, has apologized to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for incurring his wrath during a national event on Friday, June 9, 2023.

According to the chief, his decision to remain seated while the national anthem played at the Green Ghana Day event was due to his state of health and not an act of disrespect to the president or the anthem.

Prez Akufo-Addo's action in public should be condemned and must apologize to the chieftaincy fraternity - Yaw Asani Tano#AdekyeNsroma pic.twitter.com/ZzgHbylBed

— UTV Ghana (@utvghana) June 13, 2023