Royal College to be established for chiefs

Dunkwa (C/R), Dec. 3, GNA - Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, the Minister of Chieftaincy Affairs, has said the government would establish a Royal College for Chiefs to equip chiefs with knowledge on the laws of the country to enhance their local administrative skills.

He said the proposed college would also equip chiefs with the knowledge and capabilities to deal with chieftaincy disputes and other problems that impede the smooth and peaceful administration of their areas to promote development.

Mr Boafo said this at the Odwira festival of the chiefs and people of the Denkyira Traditional Area at Dunkwa-on-Offin. The festival is celebrated each year first at Jukwa, the traditional capital and then followed with another celebration at Dunkwa-on-Offin, the administrative headquarters.

Mr Boafo said his ministry would do everything possible to settle all chieftaincy disputes in the country and that a national award would soon be instituted to honour all chiefs who had ensured peace and development in their areas.

He reiterated an earlier call on traditional rulers to recognize the role being played by fellow Ghanaians to the development of their places by enstooling them as nkosuohene and refrain from reserving the honour for only whites and Africans in the Diaspora.

He commended Odeefo Boa Amponsem III, Omanhene of the Denkyira Traditional Area, and his elders for enstoolling a Ghanaian from the north, Dr Mark Nawaane, a private medical practitioner at St Mark's Hospital, at Atechem, a suburb of Dunkwa, as the Denkyira Nkosuohene for his contribution to the development of the place.

Mr Boafo assured the people that their requests for a teachers' training college, a nurses training college and a revisit to the divestiture of the former state mining company would receive urgent attention.

On behalf of the President, Mr Boafo donated 10 million cedis to the Denkyira Education Fund and 10 bottles of schnapps to the chiefs. Nana Ato Arthur, the Central Regional Minister, appealed to Odeefo Boa Amponsem, who has been ruling the place for about 50 years now, to use his rich and vast experience to assist in the settlement of the numerous chieftaincy disputes in the region.

He said his rule had ensured the socio-economic development of the Denkyira Traditional Area.

Nana Kwame Kuma III, the acting President of the Denkyira Traditional Council, commended the President for instituting an administration that is tolerant, democratic and peaceful and has ensured socio-economic development.