Dr Oti Boateng still rightful chief of New Juabeng – House of Chiefs

The Eastern Regional House of Chiefs insists Daasebre Dr Oti Boateng is still the Paramount Chief of New Juabeng Traditional Area.

Sub-chiefs who claimed to have destooled him acted with “impunity”, Nana Osei Nyarko, Vice President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs maintained.

Ten destooled sub-chiefs of the area Monday performed rituals to signal the distoolment of the Paramount chief.

The aggrieved chiefs who accused Dr Oti Boateng of engaging in conduct that contravenes the values and traditions slaughtered a ram, poured libation and invoked the “great oath” of the Asantehene.

Nana Osei Nyarko told Joy News the Regional House of Chiefs has not received any formal complaint about the conduct of Dr. Oti Boateng, adding that he himself was “taken aback” by the posture of the sub-chiefs.

He stressed that so far as “procedure and methods are concerned it is absolutely wrong” for the chiefs to act in that manner.

He described today’s action as “unheard of”, explaining the sub-chiefs who are not king makers have no right to destool a paramount chief. The chiefs are “flouting the procedure with impunity,” he emphasised.

“So far as the Region House of Chiefs are concerned Nana Oti Boateng is still the Paramount Chief of New Juabeng Traditional Area.”

Nana Osei Nyarko appealed to the people of Juabeng to be “very, very cautious” about the development in the area.

Meanwhile, a sociology lecturer at the University of Ghana’s Department of Sociology, Dr Alhassan Anamzoya is backing earlier assertion by Daasebre Oti Boateng that he remains the chief of the traditional area.

He has, therefore, directed the sub-chiefs to send their complaints to the Regional House of Chiefs for them to adjudicate on the matter because the “laws are clear” on how to destool a chief.

He told Joy News since the ten chiefs have admitted that they are not king makers, the rituals they performed cannot be enforced by them.

“If you did not make the chief, then your unmaking the chief is questionable,” he insisted.

But the spokesperson for the sub-chiefs, Nana Yaw Annor Boateng has told Joy News claim by Dasebre Oti Boateng that he has not been destooled is itself “derogatory”.

He reiterated that the Paramount Chief refuses to hold meetings with his sub-chiefs and was also fond of taking unilateral decision. He also accused the Paramount Chief of “denigrating” the customs of the area by barring sub-chiefs from performing their customary rites.

He maintained that since the ntem kesie (Great oath) has been invoked on Dasebre Oti Boateng, he can no longer hold himself as the paramount chief of the area, “which means everything must come to a halt”.

Asked if Otumfuo Osei Tutu II is aware of their invocation, he replied that “the invocation does not need the prior approval of Otumfuo” because “it is invoke on impulse as the last resort”.

The great oath can be invoked by even a toddler, he said.

But Dr Alhassan Anamzoya pointed out that Nana Annor Boateng's explanation that the great oath can be invoked by a toddler simply means the invocation can be seen as a “normal thing and it can be misused”.