Brong Ahafo records high Chieftaincy disputes

Accra , July 6, GNA- Mr Alexander Asum-Ahensah, Minister of Chieftai ncy and Culture, said on Monday that Brong Ahafo Region had disposed of only 10 out of 55 chieftaincy cases, making it the Region with the highest report ed chieftaincy cases in the country as at 31 May, 2010. Mr Asum-Ahensah who was answering a question on the floor of parliament said however that some progress had been made by some regional

houses of Chiefs in dealing with the backlog of chieftaincy cases in the country since 2009.

He said Central region was next with 31 cases pending, having dispos ed of three, and Greater Accra disposing of 1 out of 27 cases, followed by Ashanti region with 26 chieftaincy cases pending, out of which 9 had been

disposed of. Eastern region had 11 chieftaincy cases pending having dispo sed of three. Mr Asum-Ahensah noted that Upper West had 10 chieftaincy cases pendi ng, having disposed of one, with Western Region having 9 chieftaincy cases pending having disposed of three.

He said two of the three remaining regions, namely Northern and Upp er East Regions had not been able to dispose of any of their cases because t hey did not have Counsels. Mr Asum-Ahensah said Northern region had 10 chieftaincy cases pendi ng, whiles Upper East had one case pending, adding that his Ministry was maki ng efforts to secure counsels for those two Houses of Chiefs. He explained that in the case of the Volta region, even though a counsel had been at post since 2008, the House had not been able to dispo se of any of the Chieftaincy cases because the cases which were started by t he Judicial Committee could not continue for the reason that one party or th e other was before the High Court at Ho, invoking the supervisory jurisdict ion of the High Court. Mr Asum-Ahensah noted that the Volta Regional House as at 31 May, 2010, had 32 chieftaincy cases pending, and that the issue of many chieftaincy disputes in the country was a great source of worry to the government. He said there was a limit to what the Ministry could do when it com es to deciding who was or who was not a chief. The relevant law regarding the non-interference of government in chieftaincy matters was Article 270 (2) of the 1992 constitution. Mr Asum-Ahensah admitted that the lack of adequate resources was a

hindrance to the effective operations of the judicial committees of the various regional houses of chiefs. He said it was for this reason that the Ministry was liaising with

the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to ensure that the

various Regional Coordinating Councils could assist Regional Houses of Chiefs with financial resources where required so that the delivery of justice and adjudication in chieftaincy disputes would be expedited. 06 July 10