Asantehene calls on chiefs to be development oriented

Kumasi, Oct.14, GNA - Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene has called on chiefs to be development oriented and lead their people to improve on their standards of living.

He said the chiefs could support the people to send their children to school and help them to acquire employable skills.

The Asantehene made the call when a 13-member delegation from the Royal College of Defence Studies under the leadership of Rear Admiral Ruger Lockwood paid a courtesy call on him at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.

The delegation which was led to the Palace by Mr Gordon Wetherell, British High Commissioner in Ghana and Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister included Senior Military officers and Senior Civil Servants from the United Kingdom (UK), Hungary, Atlanta, Czech Republic, Pakistan, the United States and Japan.

The Asantehene said Ghana's Constitution guaranteed the chieftaincy institution, because about 70 per cent of Ghanaians lived in rural communities where, "we have the roots of our customs, traditions and culture."

He said, the country's Constitution stipulated that Governments could only be changed every four years, through the ballot box and not any military intervention.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu said traditional rulers support the Government in power and have the capacity to point out vices in the society. He called on Governments to have constant interactions with traditional rulers who lived with the people at the grassroots to ensure successful rule.

The delegation is in Sub-Saharan Africa to assess practices that would encourage good governance, impact of the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) to improve governance on the Continent.