The Nandom Chieftaincy – A Dangerous Scheme Being Hatched

Nandom, a town in north-western Upper-West Region, known more for producing some of the leading statesmen for our country Ghana, is again beginning to witness the makings of unrest, fuelled mostly by a long-standing chieftaincy dispute. Credible reports reaching this writer, by locals and other members of the royal family, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicate that serious manoeuvres are being made by certain individuals in the family, to seize the chieftaincy for their own diabolical goals.

A name that keeps emerging in all of these diabolical manoeuvres is said to be Dr. Edmund Delle, the Director for Rabito Clinic in Osu, Accra. The reports indicate that Dr. Delle who has long had designs on the chieftaincy, but who is widely unpopular in the royal family because he is a prolific liar, unreliable and has a dubious character, is scheming daily to usurp the chieftaincy. It is alleged he has renewed his long-standing unholy alliance with the bed-ridden and almost terminal Naa Puore Puobe Imoru, in a scheme for the later to hand-over the chieftaincy to Dr. Delle, who in turn will pass it on to one of his nephews, Mr. Richard Delle, who resides in Germany.


Family members are particularly mad about the fact that previously on-going “Unity Talks” within the wider family, with a view to resolving the long-standing family dispute, and to returning the Nandom traditional area to peace and stability, were hi-jacked and disrupted by Dr. Edmund Delle and his operatives. As a result, a larger majority of the family has decided to boycott the Unity Talks. Despite these developments, Dr. Delle is said to have travelled to other members of the family abroad, and misrepresented current developments in Nandom to them, claiming that he has resolved the chieftaincy dispute.


A family member residing in a foreign European country placed a phone call to relatives in Nandom and was surprised to learn to the contrary that Dr. Delle’s account of any resolution is a complete lie. He was told that Dr. Delle has never attended any family meeting, let alone the Unity Talks. This family member was further informed that Dr. Delle called a meeting ONCE, with about four of his brothers, and unilaterally declared that all grievances held by different members of the family about the chieftaincy were henceforth buried under a concrete, and that everything in the past was in the past. Those present opposed his comments on the grounds that 5 of them were too few to make a decision that will be binding on a very large family, on such a sensitive issue; and that to properly resolve the dispute, past grievances, however unpleasant, must be brought up and addressed amicably, honestly, transparently and customarily, in order to bring long-lasting peace. That meeting which did not even have a clear agenda, dissolved without any formal conclusion. Still, Dr. Delle, ever the schemer is busy still misinforming people, especially Government officials, that he has resolved the problem and that the family is united.


Another issue that has aroused anger is the fact that Dr. Delle is using a certain David Kpele, a nephew in the family, to organize and orchestrate his scheme. Dr. Delle’s other brothers in the family are upset that a nephew is involved at this stage when the discussion should be among Uncles, and say that if Mr. Kpele is to be involved, then all the other nephews in the family should be involved. They contend further that such scheming is simply creating the same problem which led to the dispute all these years. Examples they provided included that fact that Mr. Kpele is the one who sent out the meeting notice to the other four uncles, when it could have been done by younger uncles; they are angry that Mr. Kpele who is said to be a pastor, is involved in such scheming.


A majority of the family is concerned that Dr. Delle is trying to manipulate the current head of the family, one Alhaji Issifu, in Nandom, into signing documents, seemingly giving credence to his manoeuvres. Reports indicate that he has tried several times to bribe the head of family with gifts and money. Unfortunately, the head of family has proved difficult and threatened, at least as of writing this report, that he will convene a family meeting in Nandom and reveal what Dr. Delle is up to. The consequences of such a revelation will undoubtedly be further damaging to Dr. Delle, who has a reputation of dubious manoeuvres. Meanwhile, Dr. Delle is secretly telling other family members that his manoeuvres are sanctioned by the head of family, thus using the man’s name to give legitimacy to his actions.

This writer was asked to speak to the CPP and many Nkrumaists, and it was confirmed that Dr. Delle is a lying, destructive character, that the current allegations against Dr. Delle if true, are similar to his bad manoeuvres within the CPP until he was unanimously removed from the CPP. They cited numerous problems in the CPP caused by him as National Chairman, and also as someone who at one point wanted to be the CPP’s Flagbrearer.


In one thing, all the different factions opposed to Dr. Delle’s dubious manoeuvres agree – that Dr. Delle is a “useless man”, who if he stands for elections in his own family house will lose. They say that Dr. Delle is not interested in the well-being of Nandom and its people, and that his schemes are for his personal benefit alone, and that he has a reputation for forgery, using the names of other family members to do things for his personal benefit.


The family is deeply concerned that efforts of the Ministry for Traditional and Chieftaincy Affairs will be thwarted by dubious characters like Dr. Delle. They believe that the Ministry may be misled by Dr. Delle into approving a bogus document said to be the so called Succession Process for Nandom. They caution the Ministry, that any document submitted by Dr. Delle, or anyone else is dubious unless the Ministry takes the trouble to actually go to Nandom and simply hold a meeting with all the family members; there, the Ministry can then judge as to what Dr. Delle or any of his agents is saying is the truth or not. As an example of Dr. Delle’s dishonesty, they stated authoritatively that President John Mahama’s recent appointment of Naa Puore Imoru, the Nandom Naa to the board of the Forestry Department was possible because persons connected with Dr. Delle, who knew or should have known, that the Nandom Naa is currently terminal and has had his leg amputated, withheld that information deliberately, in order to make that appointment possible. They question that if Dr. Delle can withhold information from President Mahama for his selfish aims, what then is he not capable of for the same selfish aims? This writer believes that the Government, through the Ministry, must verify Dr. Delle’s claims through a public meeting with the family in Nandom.


The family therefore appealed to the Ministry of Traditional and Chieftaincy Affairs to be wary of Dr. Edmund Delle and Mr. David Kpele in particular, who are busy misleading government officials about the Nandom chieftaincy. A true and lasting resolution of the Nandom dispute must involve everyone in the family and the Ministry must not approve or endorse any process that is coming from a small collection of individuals such as Dr. Delle, who has a dangerous, personal motive for orchestrating these diabolical schemes and lies.


Writer: Francis Dery Email: deryfrancis@yahoo.com