Traditional Council refutes allegation of insecurity

The New Juaben Traditional Council has described as "false alarm" allegations of a state of insecurity in the area as published in an Accra daily. The Council therefore assured the public that "there is no tension whatsoever in the New Juaben Traditional Area and that people are calmly and briskly going about their normal duties."

The rebuttal was contained in a statement read at a news conference by the Krontihene of the area, Nana Adjei Tuffuor II, on Tuesday at Koforidua, to allay fears that the publication in the "Free Press" edition of 13 May sought to create to the public under a banner headline "New Juaben on time bomb."

Nana Tuffuor, Nana Osei-Bobie Dankwa III, Gyasehene, Nana Siaw Gyimah, Akwamuhene and Mr F.A. Martinson, Senior Registrar of the traditional council jointly signed the statement. It referred to allegation in the publication that the Omanhene had threatened to destool Nana Kodua Kese 11, Oyokohene and Adontenhene of the traditional area, saying: "It is as unjust and invidious as it would be uncustomary to do so."

It said: "if the Free Press reporter had been a bit professional in his reportage, he should have known that it is customarily not the duty of an Omanhene to destool his sub-chiefs, such a duty being the preserve of kingmakers of the relevant stools."

The statement explained that Nana Kese was suspended at a meeting of the traditional council on 23 May 1995, "for what was considered to be a betrayal of the New Juaben Traditional Council following his protest note against the council's resolution to which he was a signatory."

It recalled that as custom demands, a sheep was slaughtered but he allegedly "refused to accept the arm of the sheep which was a customary way of commencing an amicable settlement of disputes of this nature". "...By declining to receive the arm, Nana Kodua Kese made it impossible for the differences to be settled internally thus creating an impasse and obstructing the course of justice in accordance with customary law and usage as guaranteed by Article 270 of the 1992 constitution."

The statement said kingmakers at Oyoko apparently found Nana Kodua's conduct distasteful and have preferred destoolment charges against him without any prompting from the Omanhene."

The statement said instead of using existing traditional mechanism for conflict resolution, Nana Kodua decided to resort to political manoeuvring by going through persons thought to have political weight and influence at that time to resolve the case for him, adding: "All these manoeuvrings which sought to flout the customary procedure inevitably backfired and collapsed."

It quoted the Nana Osei-Bobie Dankwa as denying the Oyokohene's claims that Daasebre had settled the matter with him and provided drinks to seal the proceedings, saying: "At that meeting, Daasebre advised Nana Kodua Kese to go to Oyoko to patch up the differences with his people after which he could come to the Traditional Council for the settlement but he has ignored this advice."

The statement said of late, certain well-meaning people headed by Nana Addo Dankwa, Omanhene of Akwapim Traditional Area and President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, offered to mediate but when the mediating team came on 15 April "it came to light that Nana Kodua Kese was not prepared to render apology to the traditional council as it demanded earlier from him as condition for the settlement."

It advised the media to be cautious and circumspect in reporting chieftaincy matters, especially, on such delicate matters, which the reporter refers to as a "time bomb." In the publication, the Free Press quoted sources close to Nana Kese as accusing Daasebre Oti Boateng of being "intransigent" towards several attempts at an amicable settlement of the dispute by some personalities over the past seven years.