Settle chieftaincy dispute - Gas ordered

Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs (GARHC) in Dodowa has ordered Gas and various parties involved in long-standing chieftaincy disputes over the Ga Royal Paramount Stool pending before the House to settle all cases out of court.

The committee chaired by the Paramount Chief of Kpone Traditional Area, Nii Tetteh Otu II, has other members like the Tema Mantse, Nii Adjei Kraku II, and the Paramount Chief of Ada Traditional Area, Nene Abram K. Akuaku III.

The committee took a unanimous decision at their last meeting to strike out all cases and petitions which were instituted against the late Ga Mantse, King Tackie Tawiah III, known in private life as Dr. Jo Blankson, by Nii Yaote Otu-Ga III.

Today has stumbled upon a document of the committee that had ordered that all petitions against the enstoolment of the late Dr. Jo Blankson as Ga Mantse II be struck out.

Meanwhile, according to the thirty-one page document in possession of Today, the committee has asked the Ga Traditional Council to, as a matter of urgency, start a new nomination so as to get the rightful candidate to occupy the throne which has been vacant since the demise of the late King Tackie Tawiah III.

The move by the Judicial Committee came after several meetings and deliberations in consultation with eminent Jurists to the conclusion that "Gas and various parties involved in the Ga Royal Paramount Stool should put their house in order and do the proper thing."

The document, which was in a written form dated Monday, February 2, 2015 and certified by the Registrar of GARHC and signed by the Counsel Recorder, Mr. S.K. Klayson, asserted that the committee had had time to discuss all the cases/petitions thoroughly brought before it.

Consequently, the committee came to the conclusion that it could not give judgment since all the relevant respondents in the persons of Nii Akropong III, the Head of Nii Teiko Tsuru We, Nuumo Tete Nai Wulomo and Nii Tettey Ashong V, the Seitse who were purported to have carried out the enstoolment of the late king (Dr. Jo Balnkson), the man whose enstoolment as Ga Mantse sparked off this controversy.

The committee stressed that: “We are not aware of the role played by Nii Yaote Otu-Ga III and his relevance in the suit No. GARHC/P.4/2007 who expressed dissatisfaction with the previous ruling on the grounds that he did not hear his name or his name did not appear in the ruling though he had on countless occasions appeared before the Committee.

"We were also not aware of the exact role of Ga Paramount Stool Djase and for that matter, the Djasetse in the enstoolment of Ga Mantse, King Tackie Tawiah III but we deliberately refrained from drawing conclusion which is likely to stir further controversy," the committee expressed in its ruling.

"This not to say that matters arising from these suits as whether Gas have four or three ruling royal houses, and whether Nii Owulakpakpa Blofonyo must initiate the enstoolment process for a king in Ga State or not, it is the Ga Paramount Stool Djase which is responsible for the enstoolment of a Ga Mantse and can still be determined by these ruling royal houses and a relevant committee," it averred.

It would be recalled that Nii Tackie Adama Latse II, known in private life as Mr. George Tackie, on Sunday, June 12, 2011 was selected by some so-called kingmakers of the Ga State to succeed Nii Amugi II who passed away nine years ago.

The purported enstoolment of Nii Adama Latse II brought to two the number of occupants of the Ga Stool, as the late King Tackie Tawiah III, was also enstooled on Sunday, June 11, 2006.