Otumfuo intervenes to end the dispute in Bawku

The process of ending the Bawku war has been started by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

The disputing parties have previously spoken with the esteemed leader.

He has also interacted with the local youth, and both sides have provided legal documentation establishing their claims to the chieftaincy.

The Asantehene stated that there were measures in motion to bring everyone involved together to find a long-term resolution to the current disagreement.

He hoped that everyone would agree to end the strife and enable peace to reign following the conference.

When the Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, paid him a courtesy visit at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi last Wednesday, the Asantehene revealed this.

He went to meet the Asantehene to identify himself as the new bearer of the position that deals with traditional leaders and to ask for his assistance in settling some of the country’s chieftaincy problems.

The Otumfuo noted that lies and greed were to blame for the majority of chieftaincy disputes in the nation.

The Asantehene stated that certain traditional chiefs would not be true to the succession line and would allow money to influence their decisions if they were to allow anyone who was not a royal to challenge or become a chief.

The minister will be invited to attend the meeting that Manhyia will call for the Bawku feuding parties, according to Otumfuo Osei Tutu.

The Asantehene argued that regardless of the succession system—patrilineal or matrilineal—it should be straightforward to identify people eligible to take the throne and questioned why it should be challenging and cause disputes.

The Asantehene used the Ashanti Region as an example, saying that after assuming the throne, he realized that some judicial bodies were biased against specific groups and let money to influence their judgments. Otumfuo

All parties involved were convened, he claimed, and decisions they had made were overturned. He concluded by saying, “and all the parties have lived together ever since.”

Resource

The Asantehene argued that the chieftaincy institution was still important to the overall structure of the nation and encouraged the government to provide resources so it could function well.

The Otumfuo noted, however, that the ministry lacked sufficient resources to carry out its duties.

The Asantehene observed that the minister in charge of Chieftaincy was not even a member of the Cabinet, preventing him from participating in meetings of that body and discussing issues pertaining to traditional leaders and how the government may include them in its initiatives.

He pleaded with the government to appropriately fund the ministry in order to give the chieftaincy institution’s significance some context.

Drain on the country’s finances

Mr. Asamoah Boateng claimed that chieftaincy disputes were the cause of around 70% of all national security crises in the nation.

Such disputes, he claimed, were depleting the nation’s finances because the government had to spend money keeping the peace there when “these resources could be channelled into developmental projects.”

The minister claimed that the amount of money spent by the government to keep the peace in such regions was rather significant. He also voiced his opinion that if all of those issues were settled, the government would have money to use for other purposes.

In order to resolve the Bawku chieftaincy problem, which, according to Mr. Asamoah Boateng, would be a major relief to the government, the Asantehene was thanked for intervening.

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