Military Expert offers solution to Dagbon crisis

Accra, Oct. 17, GNA- Major General Carl Coleman, of the Ghana Armed Forces Command College on Thursday said solution to the Dagbon Chieftaincy crisis would depend on the separation of politics from tradition.

He said, "I think tradition has been intertwined with politics, if we remove the political considerations, an answer to the Dagbon crisis would be found."

Maj-Gen. Coleman was responding to a question on the Dagbon crisis at a roundtable discussion on "Chieftaincy Conflicts and National Security in Ghana," organised by the African Security Dialogue and Research (ASDR) in Accra.

The discussants included serving and retired military and police officers, security intelligence analysts, parliamentarians, academicians, traditional rulers, diplomats, journalists and lawyers. One of the participants sought to know the real difficulty in finding and prosecuting the alleged perpetrators of the Yendi carnage. The participant said "It becomes difficult for me to accept that investigators cannot come up with the culprits baffles me."

Speaking on the topic, Dr Henry Seidu Daannaa, a Principal Research Officer at the Chieftaincy Secretariat said conflicts between royals continue to plague the nation into insecurity.

Dr Daannaa stressed that safety of life and property, as well as issues relating to national security deserved urgent considerations because they formed the basis for the survival of society. Dr Daannaa who is also a consultant for the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) Sub-committee on Chieftaincy and Religious Bodies said for national security, chieftaincy disputes should be resolved before resulting in carnage.

He cautioned Ghanaians against the use derogatory remarks on customary practices, norms and traditions.

Mr Emanuel Sowatey, Chieftaincy Research Fellow of the ASDR, said failure of the chieftaincy institution to negotiate its own difficulties and mediate societal conflicts was posing new and dangerous challenges to national security.

He identified lack of codified rules, politicisation and the clash between modernity and tradition as some of the reasons for the crisis that had plagued the institution.

Mr Sowatey noted that a recent discourse on chieftaincy indicated that the time-honoured institution had lost some of its efficacy and respect. 17 Oct 2003