The tectonic plates of Ghana chieftaincy heaved this week and prior to that dispute after dispute kept popping up. This have made the bravado of some chiefs exceed their constitution and one may wonder if chieftaincy is an asset or a liability to Ghana. The National security adviser Brigadier Nunoo Mensah recently highlighted on this that if unchecked could bring disastrous consequences to the entire country and the country faces a fundamental dilemma.
The future of chieftaincy may lie beyond our vision but not beyond our control. Kings and chiefs have been given too much power and control to the point that it is believed without them the country is going nowhere. As a result of this some of them have it ingrained in their minds that they are above the laws of the country and could bellow out instructions which should be obeyed hook, line and sinker without thinking about the repercussions.
Whatever is happening now between Techiman chief, Tuobodom chief and the Asantehene should be blamed on the previous and the present governments. If there are some kings or chiefs who have the power to make Ghana come to a grinding stop they should tell we the citizens and we will worship them. Thses chiefs don't own Ghana but they live in Ghana as citizens and should obey the laws of the country.
The government sometimes avert its gaze or becomes neutral when some of them overstep their bounds but comes down hard on others. Whenever any government becomes neutral in situations of injustice, they have chosen the side of the oppressor.
Seth Bonsu (Denver,U.S.A)
