Chief supports construction of Asere stool secretariat

The chief of Abehenase near Amassaman in the Greater Accra Region; Obrempong Nii Kotey Susubribi Onyaa I, has presented building materials worth several hundreds of Ghana Cedis towards the construction of a divisional stool secretariat for the Asere Divisional Council under the Ga Traditional Council.

The building materials consists of heaps of sands, iron rods, ‘wawa’ boards, bamboo scaffolds, 2000 pieces of blocks and one hundred bags of cement were presented to the Acting president of the divisional council, Nii Amarkai III after a colourful durbar of chiefs to seek unity and harmony among chiefs under the stool in Accra.

The materials were to support the stool to put up an ultra-modern stool secretariat that will assist the council abdicate on issues brought before the council and to keep records of lineages under the stool.

The secretariat when completed will also accommodate the officials of the Lands Commission to assist the Asere stool in collecting revenue from all the villages under the Asere stool in the Greater Accra region.

Speaking earlier, at the durbar of chiefs under the stool, Nii Amarkai III said it is estimated that there are about fifty villages under the Asere stool but only a few works directly under the stool.

He reminded the clan heads gathered to preserve, protect and guide its clan areas in these challenging times.

How can we progress, if we are divided he questioned reminding them that the stool is faced with a lot of challenges.

He mentioned the challenges as the state of the Asere Mantse palace at Kaneshie which needs urgent renovation.

The fencing of the royal cemeteries both at Kaneshie and Bubiashie all suburbs in Accra as well as the lack of funds to run the Asere stool office he said.

According to him, the forebear of the stool did a very good job by documenting and consolidating all the social contract the stool had with all the villages under it.

He said these social contracts have been embedded in the document, have been violated with impunity by the heads of the villages under the stool.

"It has been stated that when you lend out portions of the lands to prospective farmers they will pay tolls to the clan heads and you will send yearly food produce to the Asere stool. But, presently many of you are selling the farms for constructional purposes at the expense of the Asere stool," he posited.

"Let us all be positive in the year 2017 and turn a new leaf and as well live up to our civic responsibilities as elders of the stool.

I will urge you to have periodic meetings with your subjects and design a developmental agenda for your people in terms of schools, clinics and other facilities needed by your people," he said.

He appealed to them to endeavour to settle all disputes with speed to avoid prolonged misunderstanding among family people under the same clan.

He warned against double installation of chiefs in all the villages under the Asere stool, saying this will not be countenanced as his status as the Dzase of the Asere stool has been dully published.

On his part, the chief of Ofankor Nii Kwarteboi II thanked the chief of Abehenase; Obrempong Nii Kotey Susubribi Onyaa I, for the gesture and promised the items will be used for the purpose for which it was intended.