Kade Court dismisses police application to order Kadehene, others to sign peace bond

The Kade Magistrate Court on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, dismissed an application by the Ghana Police Service seeking an order to compel the Chief of Kade, Osabarima Agyare Tenadu II and four others to sign a bond pledging to keep peace in the town.

Addressing the court on behalf of the police, ASPOL Lois Konadu Bonti urged the judge to allow the application to be moved, noting the exigency surrounding the matter.

According to the police, they had received reliable information indicating that Osabarima Agyare Tenadu II's intention to attend several funerals within the area between February 2 to 4, 2024, could lead to chaos, breaching public order and peace.

In response, Captain Nkrabeah Effah Dartey (retired), counsel for Osabarima Agyare Tenadu II, who was the 5th respondent in the matter, urged the court to dismiss the application, noting that his client was attending the funeral in his capacity as the Chief of Kade.

He argued that the case pertained to a chieftaincy matter, which the court lacked jurisdiction to preside over.

He pointed out that the police, recognizing his client's legitimacy as the chief of Kade, had separated him from the 1st to 4th respondents in the suit and suggested that the police could provide security if determined to keep the peace.

In response, ASP Konadu Bonti told the court that the police service lacked the personnel to provide the needed security, hence the need for the respondents to be compelled to sign a bond.

In the case of Asare Twe II, Abusapanin Otibu Asare, Krontihene Nana Banchie Darko Ampem and Asafoatse Yaw Danso; the first, second, third, and fourth respondents respectively; their lawyer, in a letter, informed the court of his failure to attend the proceeding owing to the short notice in which the application was served.

The lawyer prayed the court to adjourn the case to a later date, a plea supported by Nkrabea Affah Dartey, who argued that the police, by court rules, should have given the respondents adequate time to respond or file an ex parte motion instead of an application on notice if they deemed the matter urgent.

While agreeing with the lawyers for the respondents on the short notice given by the police, Magistrate George David K. Ofori, further concurred with the argument of the lawyer for Osabarima Agyare Tenadu II, noting that the matter is a chieftaincy case pending before a High Court.

He stated that his court lacked jurisdiction to sit on the matter and urged the police to resort to a high court with their application before announcing the case as dismissed.

Speaking to the media, Nkrabeah Effah Dartey emphasized that his client remains the legitimate chief of Kade, as ruled by a Kumasi High Court.

“The law is that as of today, the Chief of Kade is called Osabarima Agyare Tenadu II. His name is in the register of chiefs, and the legal battle surrounding his status has been resolved to the extent that the matter is pending at the Supreme Court.

"So he is the chief; he lives in the palace at Kade and performs all his functions as a chief.

“Now there is somebody called Twum Debrah who is pretending that he is called Asare Twe, Kadehene. He managed to get his name in the register of chiefs, and he managed to be gazetted.

"The Kumasi High Court, presided over by Mrs. Justice Ofosu Marfo, has given a specific order of certiorari to quash the registration of Asare Twe and the gazetting. So it means, as far as the law is concerned, Osabarima Agyare Tenadu is the chief until the Supreme Court gives a ruling one way or the other,” he stated.

GA/SARA

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