On Dormaa Not For Asanteman
Otumfuo the Asantehene and the entire Asante nation have read with bewilderment and regret the report which appeared in the Ghanaian Times of Saturday 1 March 2008 under the banner headline “Dormaa is not for Asanteman – Dormaahene”. A story along the same lines appeared in other media of Ghana. In each case the Dormahene is reported to have criticized and challenged a statement attributed to Otumfuo the Asantehene in a national daily of 20 February 2008. The Dormaahene was apparently reacting to a part of the story which seemed to suggest that Otumfuo had claimed “to own the entire Brong-Ahafo Region. The Dormaahene was quoted as saying that the statement attributed to the Asantehene was “most unfortunate, palpably false and deceptive”
A little patient reading of the statement of Otumfuo as reported on 20 February would have shown clearly that there was no basis for the concern of the Dormaahene and, therefore, that there was absolutely no justification for the very harsh language that he used. In stating that certain areas in the Brong-Ahafo Region are part of Asanteman, Otumfuo was stating the obvious and undeniable fact that certain parts of the Brong-Ahafo Region fall within the customary law jurisdiction of Asanteman and are, as such, under the authority of the Asantehene as the occupant of the Golden Stool in matters relating to chieftaincy. This is fully supported by both the Constitution of Ghana and the law and practice of chieftaincy that has long been recognized both before and since the creation of the Brong-Ahafo Region.
In this connection it is worth recalling the solemn declaration made by the Government Minister who piloted the bill in 1959 to create the Brong-Ahafo Region in Parliament. In that declaration the Minister categorically asserted, on behalf of the Government, that the creation of the new region was not intended “to disturb any traditional allegiance which may be cut across by the new boundary” He also said that the Government was considering “the question of chiefs who may feel that they were being cut off either from their subjects or from their traditional superiors”. On the question of lands and their administration the Minister declared that “all stool lands in the Kumasi state, whether lying in the Ashanti Region proper or in the new (Brong-Ahafo) region are administered by the Commissioner for Lands as administrator under the Ashanti Stool Lands Act. He then confirmed that the Bill to create the Brong-Ahafo Region “involved no change in that arrangement”
It was in recognition of this legal and constitutional fact that Otumfuo and his predecessors on the Golden Stool have continued to assert authority over the lands and Chiefs in the parts of the Brong-Ahafo Region which owe allegiance to the Golden Stool. And it is by virtue of that authority that Otumfuo has challenged the refusal of some of the members of the Brong-Ahafo House of Chiefs to give due recognition to some of the paramount chiefs in the Region who swear the oath of allegiance to the Golden Stool.
In the light of these simple and obvious facts, it is indeed difficult to see how any one who knows anything about the law and practice of chieftaincy in Ghana should either misunderstand the statement of Otumfuo, let alone describe it as either false or deceptive. In asserting what are constitutional and customary rights of Asanteman in certain parts of the Brong-Ahafo Region, Otumfuo neither claims what does not belong to Asanteman nor intends to cause any provocation to any Chief in the Brong-Ahafo Region. By the same token it is his hope and prayer that all who make comments on this and other national issues will always bear in mind the need to avoid misrepresentation and emotive language which can inflame passions and lead to unnecessary controversy and tension.
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