QUEENS, KINGMAKAERS ATTEND CAPACITY WORKSHOP (PAGE 13, MAY 22, 2010)

Queens and other kingmakers from the various paramountcies in the Brong Ahafo Region have attended a two-day capacity-building workshop on the prevention and management of succession-to-stool disputes in the region.
The conflict management workshop was organised by the Regional Peace Council to define chieftaincy succession disputes and understand the importance of utilising appropriate personnel management skills to deal with chieftaincy succession conflicts.
The workshop, sponsored by the UNDP, was also to let the participants become familiar with the Chieftaincy Act of 2008 (Act 759) and examine some necessary skills required in resolving those succession disputes.
Currently, there are about 56 chieftaincy disputes, some of them long-standing, being adjudicated at the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs and the High courts in the region.
The Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku, who opened the workshop, pointed out that queens occupied a central position when it came to succession to stools in most traditional areas of the country.
He said their roles as managers of the procedure of nomination, acceptance and enstoolment of a candidate as chief could not be down-played and so it was incumbent on them to live up to the expectation of their people during the whole process by showing their neutrality towards all the contending parties.
The deputy regional minister observed that not all the people from the royal lineage were qualified to occupy a vacant stool and, therefore, kingmakers must look out for someone with unquestionable character when it came to choosing a chief.
He said it was an undeniable fact that queens produced royals and by the matrilineal inheritance in the Akan tradition, those royals were selected, nominated and enstooled when a stool became vacant, noting, however, that before anything was done, the queen had to be consulted.
Mr Opoku pointed out that there were instances when a sitting chief and the queen might not be on good terms, in which case, some people took undue advantage of the situation to foment trouble whenever a stool became vacant and there was the need for a successor.
He deplored the attitude of some chiefs who were noted for their ‘winner-takes-all’ attitude and who did not take proper care of the queen and other family members, stressing that those things never happened in the past.
He gave the assurance that the government would continue to uphold the integrity, sacredness and sanctity of the chieftaincy institution and would not, by any act of commission or omission, disturb the tried and tested institution, adding, “The government will not dabble in any disputes”.
Mr Opoku, however, said the government would not look on unconcerned when lives and property were being destroyed in chieftaincy conflicts, since it owed the people a duty to maintain a peaceful country where all would have the freedom to live and work.
The Peace Promotion Officer of the Peace Council, Nana Adjei Ababio, in his welcoming address, said members of the council had been collaborating with Nananom to find ways to stem the tide of increasing chieftaincy disputes in the region.
He noted that conflicts were a part of human nature but when they arose, there was the need to find amicable solutions to them, saying that the region was bedevilled with so many threats to peace and human security arising out of chieftaincy and land disputes, unemployment, disunity and other forms of social conflicts.
Nana Ababio noted that one of the relatively peaceful regions in the country was Brong Ahafo because it did not experience violent conflicts but said that was not to say that there were no threats to peace and human security in the region.