Introduction

The chiefdom of Fiapre, in the Sunyani West District, is the latest in a long line of traditional areas in the Bono Region that have expressed an interest in being part of the Asanteman Council under the able leadership of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

The case of Bono chiefs who voluntarily align or seek to align with the Golden Stool is not a new development. Still, it came into sharp focus earlier this year during the funeral of the late Paramount Chief of the Berekum traditional area, Nana (Dr) Amankona Diawuo, when this long-standing claim nearly boiled over.

This issue became topical during the funeral because of the near violent confrontation between the Paramount Chief of the Dormaa traditional area, Nana Osagyefo Agyemang Badu II, and the overlord of Asanteman, Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II, who attended the funeral in his capacity as the traditional overlord of the Berekum traditional area.

The Chieftaincy Institution And the Colonial Project

Chieftaincy is an intensely political institution. Before the colonial project was instituted, this institution embodied power and authority in almost every ethnic community in the now Ghanaian society. As evidence of the importance of the institution, in Ghana, Professor K.A. Busia, the globally acclaimed authority on Akan chieftaincy system, observed that the “individual’s primary loyalty is to the ethnic group as symbolized by the Chief”.

The British colonialists reinforced this situation for the “native” with their policy of Indirect Rule through which the chiefs became an integral part of the colonial administrative machinery, although as it turned out later, this apparent elevation of the chieftaincy institution by the colonialists was a façade to diminish the power and authority of the Chief. Subtly, they eroded the power inherent in the institution after the formation of the modern state.

Before the colonial project, chiefs depended on the voluntary loyalty of their subjects for their legitimacy, although they had powers to sanction subjects by imposing fines, banishing them, and executing them in extreme cases to “enforce” this loyalty in instances where subjects deviated from the norms.

Within the context of the modern state, the legitimacy of chiefs now increasingly depends on authority based on the respect and integrity of any individual chiefs. Honest and decisive chiefs command the respect and love of their subjects as exemplified by the adoration of the overlord of Asanteman by Ashantis and non-Ashantis alike.

The Otumfuo and the Embellishment of the Chieftaincy Institution in Ghana

There is a raging sterile debate about the status of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II as to whether he is a Paramount Chief or a King which puts him above all paramount chiefs in the country. Otumfuo’s s supra paramount chief status is a stark fact that the 1992 Constitution of the country sanctions, a fact which renders this discourse “ redundantly superfluous”.

It is common knowledge that the current Occupant of the Golden Stool has done more than any before him since the formation of the modern Ghanaian state to uplift the respect and legitimacy of the chieftaincy institution.

The Otumfuo’s public display of the institution's culture during such events as festivals, Akwasidae, royal funerals, and other public displays has helped earn respect for this noble institution and unbeknown to many, boosts tourism for the entire country. And, in so doing it has not been a trade-off, whereby the consolidation of his Asante Kingdom has been at the expense of the Ghanaian state, and the other nationalities therein, as it appeared some decades back, but on the contrary, the Otumfuo has been making an enormous and very deliberate and sophisticated contribution to the nation-state project of the country. His is an agenda of inclusivity of all ethnic nationalities in the post-colonial state of Ghana; and working hard to shatter old myths of natural inherent animosity of his Asante kingdom and certain ethnic nationalities. This will be his most laudable legacy that will outlive him.

The other hallmark of the reign of the Otumfuo is that no observer of chieftaincy affairs in the country can fail to admire the alacrity with which he has settled the numerous chieftaincy and land disputes in Asanteman since he ascended the Golden Stool. The general sense that there is access to justice within the Asaneteman Council and also justice is dispensed with a sense of fairness and done expeditiously.

Why Some Chiefs in Bono Are Aligning with the Golden Stool

What Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has done for Asanteman through his level-headedness in handling land and chieftaincy disputes in his Kingdom and his national stature in advising all groupings through a non-partisan stance contrast sharply and markedly with the situation in the various chiefdoms in the Bono region.

The Bono Regional House of Chiefs has become very dysfunctional because it has been politicized and led by a cabal of the so-called “Seven Wisemen” that has lost the trust of the people as far as the settling of land and chieftaincy disputes in the region is concerned.

The leadership of the House of Chiefs has dampened the morale of chiefs and subjects alike in the region since people no longer see “Justice and truth at the Ahenfie”, as one person I spoke with, bluntly put it.

The Wenchi Case

A case that typifies this tendency is the protracted chieftaincy dispute in the Wenchi Traditional Area, where the leadership under Nana Agyeman Badu II of the regional house the Sofoase Royal Family of the Busias, has thus far been denied the right to have their case heard.

It is needless to say that this denial is a breach of the fundamental principle of natural justice, and more seriously, a violation of a human right ( right to be heard) as provided for under the constitution and international and regional human rights treaties that Ghana is a party to.

A purported enstoolment of Mr Kwaku Damoah in 2019 was challenged by the family heads of all three royal families in the traditional area as being contrary to customs and traditions of the area and significantly a contravention of the 1992 Constitution and the Chieftaincy Act, 2009 ( Act 759).

Initially, on 24th July 2019, the Sofoase Royal family of the Busias filed a petition and sought an injunction from the Bono Regional House, under a different presidency which was duly granted.

However, this injunction was set aside by the National House of Chiefs relying on a new policy decision of the House dated 30th March 2022) in February 2023, and directed the Regional House, the body with original jurisdiction, to expedite the adjudication of the substantive case.

Yet, because of the vested interests of the Cabal of the “Seven Wisemen”, the cause of justice is being frustrated by ensuring that no panel is constituted to hear the case. Because of the Cabal, a case like that of Wenchi is presented as if it is about an imaginary politics Asante v Bono, or NPP v NDC, which beclouds the actual issue of unconstitutionality as being canvassed by the Sofoase/ Busia family.

There is also another attribution made that the delays are deliberate, with the hope of a regime change, at the national level, and a particular party assumes the instruments of state, all the pending cases against the “ followers “ ,with dubious legitimacy issues in their chiefdoms, like Wenchi, will die a natural death. What a naïve dream ! Did I even hear something like coronation?, what a comic relief

Statements made by the leadership, which are in the public domain, are manifestly prejudicial to the case and several others. As if that is not enough, the said Mr Kwaku Damoah, whose case has not been determined has mysteriously been gazetted on the instigation, how?

There is evidence of duress, intimidation, blackmail, threats, arm twisting, and political chicanery. This will all be demonstrated at the appropriate time.
Indisputably, any chief In the Bono region with dubious legitimacy has to join the leadership in a shadow boxing with Otumfou and Asanteman Council. This gives such a chief the respite for the rigging of the legitimate customary processes of the installation of a chief.

If this on- ongoing practice in the Bono region of denying certain aggrieved parties from chiefdoms in the region, like Wenchi Sofoase Yefre royal family of the Busias, continues, then self-help could sadly be the only option to such chiefdoms; a recipe for chaos and anarchy.

Small wonder also the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Courts in the Bono region is being invoked through numerous applications for a prerogative writ of mandamus to compel the Judicial Committee of the regional House to adjudicate on cases before it that are being unduly delayed.

Inside the Dormaa Chiefdom: When Charity Does Not begin at Home

There are a lot of challenges and disputes in the Dormaa Traditional area. The stool of Ableism, the Kyidom division of the Dormaa traditional state, is on fire over a dispute, and so is Chiraa, the Benkum division of the Dormaa state.
The Chiraa chieftaincy dispute has been ongoing for as long as Nana Agyemang Badu II has been the Paramount Chief (25 years!) with no end in sight. Because of this long-standing dispute at Chiraa, technically, the town does not have a chief.

The incumbent has legitimacy issues and, for over 25 years, has been spending his time in the courtroom battling rival royal families in the town. Similarly, Bomaa, the Nifa division, is fervent, and there was a loss of life and property in the town last year when some section of the division threatened to defer to the authority of the Golden Stool under the Otumfuo. Krakrom, a town near the traditional capital of the state, Ahenkro, has two chiefs as I write this peace.

The leadership of the Bono Regional House has to be cognizant of the fact that any person claiming to be a chief has to pass the test of what Professor Busia refers to as the claimant having a "kin right to the office and also being the popular choice” in accordance with the custom and traditions of the chiefdom, short of that it becomes sideshows of bad drama.

So, for anyone who wants an answer to the question as to why chiefdoms and their chiefs in the Bono region are jockeying to be under the authority of the Golden Stool, these are the answers: the attitudes of the leadership are driving some chiefs away into the arms of the Otumfuo, where they believe there is a sense of justice and fairness.

Nana. K. A. Busia, Jr

Asst. Professor & Research Fellow, Public International Law,

School of Advanced Studies, University of London.

Former Senior Legal and Policy Advisor, UN