New Chief for Wa after four years dispute

Naa Seidu Yakubu Soaliah II was on Monday enskinned Paramount Chief of the Wala Traditional Area amidst tight security provided by the police and a detachment of Airborne Force from Tamale.

His enskinnment has thus filled the vacancy that was created after the death of Naa Momori Bondiri II in 1998. Before the ceremony the huge crowd drummed and danced, giving security personnel a hectic time as they found it difficult to control the thousands of people that thronged the ceremony grounds to see their new chief.

Mr Godfred Bayong Tangu, Wa District Chief Executive, decorated the chief with his medallion and staff as a sign of recognition by the government.

In a speech read on behalf of Mr Sahanun Mogtari, Upper West Regional Minister, he called on the new paramount chief to unite the people of Wa and draw up mechanisms that would spell out a smooth way of succession in the event of a Wa-Naa's death.

"Open up and embrace everybody as a brother and sister irrespective of their political, tribal and traditional lineage" he said. Mr Mogtari said the clock of development in the Wala Traditional Area was drawn back because of litigation and urged every royal in the traditional area to exhibit good behaviour and understanding to avoid disputes with their resultant negative repercussions.

In his maiden speech read for him, Naa Soaliah II promised to unite all the gates and to draw up a smooth succession plan that would completely remove litigation and disputes. He called on the government to increase accommodation facilities in the region to make the place attractive to visiting workers.

Naa Soaliah II said as part of his long-term plans, he would collaborate with all chiefs and elders of the traditional area to revise some outmoded cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and widow inheritance.

He said he would also seek to solve the problems of child delinquency, school dropouts and lack of teachers in the rural areas by collaborating effectively with the appropriate authorities.

Soon after his enskinnment, his supporters took over the streets in area drumming and dancing. Meanwhile the organisers said enskinnment could not take place in the Central Palace because it was in poor condition since it was abandoned for more than four years.