FOR CHIEFTAINCY REFORMS WITHIN ASANTEMAN COUNCIL OF CHIEFS
(Author inspired by the 2nd July News captioned “Otumfuo ‘grabs’ Christ”)
Otumfuo, I was very delighted to read this catchy news report, not because I thought that you did not before this incident know God, but because I was again surprised at the way you have embraced modernity and popular beliefs and shown this through practical demonstrations. I am thrilled by your acceptance of popular culture and I believe that you will continue to surprise Ghanaians and Africans with your brand of practical chieftaincy that attempts always to link the past with the present and the future.
It is on the strength of this belief, Otumfuo, that I find myself inspired to appeal to you to use your exemplary rein that has become epochal in the annals of Asanteman to reform the great chieftaincy institution within the entire Asanteman area that falls under your traditional authority to ensure that this ancient tradition can grow and change with time in order to continue to remain firmly attached to the people it is supposed to be part of.
Otumfuo, you are certainly aware that anything in this world that refuses to change with time fails to grow with time and therefore finds itself swept away by the tide of changing time. This may be another way of seeing and expressing Darwin’s theory of evolution. While it can be said that by and large the Asante Kingdom has managed to go through centuries of existence without too many bruises and fallouts, it is equally true that during this long journey, there have been numerous disputes and crises that put many parts of your kingdom under severe stresses that were only managed and brought under control through the strenuous efforts, the great wisdom, and the craftsmanship of the earlier Councils of Elders who advised Nananom and helped them to create peace and unity within all parts of Asanteman. Even as I write, there are still some parts of Asanteman that are still ‘boiling’ with intractable chieftaincy disputes which, though not of the type that attracts the national papers, are nonetheless capable of thwarting the progress of the places concerned.
One area of major worry that has become the main source of chieftaincy disputes in Asanteman, as well as in other traditional parts of Ghana, is right of succession and ascendancy to the office of the king or chief when the position becomes vacant as a result of death, abdication or any other reason. Another source of conflict relates to the procedures for dethronement and subsequent replacement of chiefs who fall out of favour. While it can be said that our time-tested tradition seems to have ways of selecting kings and chiefs as well as procedures for dethroning them, it is clear that such practices are not clear-cut and well stipulated in many places within the institution. Most of these practices have been passed down the generation line through word of mouth that becomes affected by subjectivity and generational misrepresentation and misinterpretation, especially when one considers the fact that all decisions of succession, dethronement and replacement are carried out by a group or groups of king-makers and principal elders of state who sometimes tend to be divided into factions. If one were to compare our system with say the British system, one quickly notices the weaknesses in our system....weaknesses that have formed the root-causes of the conflicts that afflict our institution. In Britain today, almost every British adult knows by name or by person or by both, not only the immediate heir to the British throne, but also the serialised order of the official line of successors to the current Monarch from the immediate heir to the last born heir. In such a situation, there is no need for a group of “king-makers” to meet and find a right successor, should the current Monarch “go to her village”. The successor is there and known by all and there is no cause for any disputation that can develop into serious monarchical crisis.
Otumfuo, there are a whole range of areas where reform and modernisation are in urgent need, if chiefs in Asanteman [and by extension in Ghana] want to make their institution appealing to the modern youth of our twenty-first century Ghana. Sometimes, those of us who value Ghana’s traditions and culture even find it difficult to convince the several anti-chieftaincy critics who think that this ancient tradition has become outmoded and should either be abolished or left to die out naturally.
Ghana, unlike the UK, is not a state monarchy and therefore, our institution of chieftaincy is in a different class. As it stands today in Ghana, the institution of chieftaincy is nether part of central government, nor part of the mainstream local government structure. In fact, it could be said, as argued by a lot of its critics, that the institution has today become redundant in terms of administration of justice and local governance. With all the traditional pomp, pageantry and authority attached to the institution, should this current situation of exclusion from administrative and judicial roles be the right status for our chiefs in Ghana?
Hundred years or more ago, even the colonialist felt that the institution should have a role in government and therefore developed what they called the indirect rule system of local administration that used chiefs as a link between central government and local people.
Otumfuo, this was the case hundred years or more ago in the Gold Coast that has today become Ghana. But Nana, hundred years or more is a long time and things have since changed. Institutions have now become more democratic, liberal and open. Human and individual rights have changed. Technology has improved. In short, we have moved from an old age to a modern age. I believe that the reason why the institution of chieftaincy has lost its status is because it has failed to change with changing time. Chiefs have therefore only survived as a social institution and lost the bulk of their political and administrative importance. The institution has failed to reform and adapt. It has failed to do away with so many things that today are considered inimical to modern values, beliefs and rights. A recent report that a certain chief in Ghana caused a goat [or sheep] belonging to somebody to be taken and given to a visiting Ghanaian dignitary without the prior knowledge and approval of the owner of the animal is one of the old ways of doing things that cannot pass the test of modernity and therefore need to be changed to give the institution a modern character.
Otumfuo, I would not make this appeal to you if I did not have faith in your traditional leadership role and your inspirational attributes. I would also not make this appeal to you if I did not feel that we need to save this cultural monument from a likely extinction that will befall it, if it does not quickly reform and make itself appealing to our younger generation. It is in the light of these two reasons that I appeal to you, Nana, to use your able leadership to carry out a broad reform of the institution of chieftaincy within your traditional authority and create a modern chieftaincy system in Asanteman that recognises the challenges of the twenty-first century world....by setting out and codifying the structures, the powers, the lines of authority, the names of paramount chiefs, chiefs and sub-chiefs occupying all Asante stools and the lines and levels of succession to those various stools within Asanteman; the rules and procedures of ascension to the various stools within Asanteman; laws and regulations concerning stool lands and other traditional lands....their registration, control, use and transfer; other stool assets...their registration, control, use and transfer or disposal; the sources of funding, the financial records and accounting procedures of the institution within Asanteman; the official traditional festivals and calendar dates, and the histories and importance of those festivals showing those that have tourist values and attractions; the traditional laws, rules, regulations and practices that are still applicable in modern-day Asanteman; old laws, rules, regulations and practices that have now been abolished and are no longer applicable anywhere in Asanteman; the controlling and disciplining of members of the institution within Asanteman and many other things that Otumfuo and his traditional council members consider to be part of the institution and which need to be spelt out and codified.
I do believe, Otumfuo, that there is a place for this ancient tradition in modern day Ghana but there is also an urgent and compelling need for the noble institution to go through the kind of transformation that will change its image and make it consistent with modernity and become acceptable to the twenty-first century Ghanaian born into an age where democracy, transparency, human rights and public accountability have become vital components of community values. Once the institution of chieftaincy reforms and transforms itself into an organisation that is compatible with the twenty-first century world, there is no reason why it should not be incorporated into Ghana’s system of local administration to enable chiefs to play the dual role of serving as beacons of our rich cultural heritage and pillars of a new local government system that allows chiefs in non-partisan capacity to sit with elected local representatives to deliver local services.
It is hoped, Otumfuo, that you will take up this challenge to reform Asanteman that has the largest number of chiefs and paramountcies in Ghana and pave the way for other ethnic groups to follow your lead. God bless you, Nana.
By: OTCHERE DARKO (An Independent-minded Ghanaian unaffiliated to any political)