The family of the late Prime Minister of the 2nd Republic, Dr. K.A. Busia, has lamented that the agony they were experiencing today in the Wenchi chieftaincy dispute was due to their lineage with the Busia/Danquah Tradition.
Their lamentation came in the wake of a clash between some demonstrators loyal to the Sofoase Yefri royal family who were calling on President Kufuor to set up a commission of inquiry into the Wenchi chieftaincy disputes.
A group of young men calling themselves Concerned Citizens of Wenchi, loyal to the Sofoase Yefri royal family, last Friday suffered a setback when they were matching towards the Wenchi District Assembly to present a petition to President Kufuor through the District Chief Executive, Hajia Bintu Ibrahim Farizana.
On their way to the District Assembly, another faction loyal to Nana Kwadwo Abrefa Nketia VII, from the Ahenfie Yefri royal family, clashed with the concerned citizens at a spot just near the main roundabout of Wenchi.
Nana Kwadwo Nketia was in June this year installed Paramount Chief of the Wenchi Traditional Area, but Nana Kusi Appea, who claimed to be the legitimate Paramount Chief, did not recognized this installation.
Nana Nketia was installed after the Judicial Committee of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs dismissed an application brought before it by Nana Kusi Appea against the Wenchi Traditional Council and the current queenmother, praying that he was the legitimate Chief of Wenchi and should be recognized as such.
Speaking to journalists at her palace in Wenchi, the former Queenmother of Wenchi, Nana Fremah Tartuo II, regretted that she and her Paramount Chief, Nana Kusi Appea, the younger brother of the late Dr. Busia, were both destooled because they belonged to the Busia/Danqua family.
She said they should not have been treated unfairly under the NPP administration, which was borne of the Busia/Danquah tradition.
Nana Kusi Appea and Nana Frema Tartuo, in 1958 were among several paramount chiefs who were destooled by the Conventions People’s Party (CPP) Government under Dr. Nkrumah’s regime.
The two were re-instated alongside hundreds of other Chiefs in 1966 when the National Liberation Council (NLC I) recognized the pervasive injustice in stool affairs in Ghana, and passed a decree to restore those destooled Chiefs including Nana Kusi Appea of the Sofoase Yefri royal family.
But the former Paramount Chief and his Queenmother again suffered another casualty when General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong overthrew the government of Dr. Busia.
The National House of Chiefs appointed a Committee of Inquiry to look into the chieftaincy disputes and after their inquiry, the report was submitted to late General Acheampong and promulgated the SMCD 64.
Under the decree, Nana Frema Tartuo was also removed as a Queenmother of Wenchi, although it was not the subject matter of the committee’s inquiry.
Last Friday’s clash could have resulted in bloodshed but for the timely intervention of Police Panther Unit from the Police Head Quarters in Sunyani, who brought the situation under control.
However, the demonstrators were unable to present their petition to the Government and had to return to their base with their petition, while their placards remained in their hands.
No arrests were made, but the Wenchi District Police Commander, Chief Supt. Peterkin Gyinae, told journalists that the Police were working around the clock to maintain peace in Wenchi.
