Dr. Musah Issahaku Yamba addressing the press
The Mamprugu Youth Association (MAYA) in Ghana has called on the government to be impartial and desist from meddling in chieftaincy-related issues in order not to deepen some chieftaincy crisis in some communities.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday in Accra, spokesperson and patron for the association, Dr. Musah Issahaku Yamba said the call has become necessary due to inconsistent and sometimes unhelpful interference by government in chieftaincy matters in recent times.
He said, “We want drum home our demands for fairness and justice in the handling of chieftaincy issues uniformly in Ghana by the government. One may not be far from right to qualify the level of inconsistency as adumbrated below as hypocrisy and counter-productive to a peaceful resolution of the many chieftaincy issues in the country.”
According to him, the inconsistent, biased and unfair meddling of government in chieftaincy affairs in the country emboldens criminal elements in some parts of the country, especially in the Bawku Traditional Area of Mamprugu.
Citing the example of how the government condemned the enskinment of the 15th Bawku Naaba by the Nayiri of the Mamprugu kingdom, though the kingdom followed all the necessary procedures required of them since the establishment of the kingdom in the 16th century.
“We find the government statement not only a blatant disregard for Mamprugu and its traditional authority but also a clear breach of the 1992 Constitution which conspicuously frowns upon any form of political interference in Chieftaincy matters in Ghana,” he added.
The group also alleged that government has on several occasions meddled in chieftaincy affairs in some parts of the country, while turning a blind eye to some areas which are equally facing similar chieftaincy challenges.
Dr. Yamba therefore asked government through the Information Minister to immediately retract and apologise to the people of Mamprugu for embarrassing the “Nayiri with that unfortunate statement and threat of arrest.”
“The government has no moral and legal justification of pushing the arrest warrant for the 15th Bawku Naaba, Naa Sheriga Alhaji Seidu Abagre, who has been duly and customarily enskinned by the Nayiri,” he added.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah