The Central Regional Minister, Mr. Aquinas Tawiah Quansah has affirmed that Chieftaincy disputes were hampering the security and development of the Region.
He has therefore called on the Central Regional House of Chiefs (CRHC) to come out with pragmatic measures to settle such issues to foster the Region’s development.
He stated that siting of developmental projects most often degenerated into disputes between traditional areas and as a result of their inability to compromise, some of such projects were eventually relocated or cancelled .
Mr. Quansah who is also the Member of Parliament for Mfantseman West Constituency, made the call when he addressed the CRHC at its end of year general meeting held on Tuesday in Cape Coast.
The meeting attended by some Municipal and District Chief Executives was used to swear in two newly enstooled chiefs and two regents who were representing their chiefs due to ill health.
Mr. Quansah gave an instance where two traditional areas in Agona could not agree on the siting of a school project until the project was nearly moved to another town.
He called on chiefs in the Region to collaborate with customary land owners and private land owners in the allocation of lands for developmental projects since some of the problems were caused by the lack of such collaboration.
The Regional Minister stated that there were plans to build 10 polyclinics in the Region and therefore urged the chiefs to settle their land and boundary disputes especially in the Twifo Atti-Morkwa area so that the projects does not suffer similar fate as others.
Mr. Quansah called on Chiefs in the coastal areas to alert health personnel in the traditional areas when fishermen who ply their trade in neighbouring Ebola infected country come home so they would be screened to prevent a possible outbreak of the disease.
He also called for collaboration between Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA) and traditional authorities especially in championing the national sanitation day campaign to encourage the citizenry to embrace it.
He said the Central Regional Development Commission (CEDEOM) would in 2015 undertake development projects jeered towards poverty alleviation as well as complete ongoing projects, this he noted when materialized, the Region would no longer be ranked among the poorest in the country.
Daasebre Kwebu Ewusie VII, President of CRHC, commended chiefs in the Region for celebrating their various annual festivals without news of violence and charged them to ensure that same was done in the coming year.
Daasebre Ewusie called on stakeholders to help the House complete the ongoing refurbishment of its offices into a storey building since the project was stalling due to the unavailability of funds.
He stated that though road carnage in the Region had reduced this year as compared with previous years, there was still the need for road users to be extra vigilant especially during the yuletide in order to reduce it to the barest minimal.
The President of the House also called on the Government and other stakeholders to put stringent measures in place to ensure that there was no outbreak of the deadly Ebola Viral Disease and urged the citizenry to uphold best sanitation practices to prevent cholera outbreak.
He lauded politicians for maintaining the peace Ghana was known for and urged them to continue to co-exist peacefully to ensure the development of the country.
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