Anum (Eastern Region) 28 July '99

Miss Patience Addow, Eastern Regional Minister, has called for the admission of queenmothers into the National House of Chiefs.

Miss Addow said if the House of Chiefs could defend the role of queenmothers, then the debate on the admission of queenmothers should be seriously reconsidered.

She made the call in an address read on her behalf by the Asuogyaman District Chief Executive, Mr Emmanuel Dwamena-Bekoe at the installation of Nana Korantenmaa I Anumhemaa at the weekend.

She succeeds Nana Akosua Lartebea, who died 14 years ago.

Miss Addow underscored the need for quick replacement of queenmothers, regretting that the kingmakers of Anum had waited for unusually too long a time to find a successor to their late queenmother.

She spoke against the continuous practice of obsolete customs such as widowhood rites, genital mutilation and other forms of abuse against women.

Nana Korantenmaa pledged to work assiduously to hasten the pace of development in the area.

Among the large crowd of people at the ceremony were Nana Appiah Kumi II, the Omanhene, Mr Kwame Dwamena-Aboagye, MP for Asogyaman and Nana Asantewa, Ohenmea of Akyem Kotoku Traditional area