THE MINISTER of Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs, Dr. Seidu Danaa appears to be in serious loggerhead with members of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs (GARHC), following his decision to block payment of their allowances for some months.
Dr. Danaa was said to have blocked the release of the chiefs’ allowances which has been in arrears for three months and was also alleged to have changed signatories to their accounts without their consent.
Members of GARHC who addressed a press conference at the Regional House of Chiefs office in Dodowa expressed worry at the continuous disrespect the Minister is exhibiting towards them.
Nene Atsure Benta III, Mankralo for Prampram Traditional Area speaking at the conference on Monday disclosed that “We, the members of this august House know why the Minister for Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs is seizing our money, but we want to tell him that we will not beg him to release it. He can continue keeping it for us.”
Stating what might cause the minister to block their money, Nene Benta clarified that the minster was acting bitterly against the House because they were against the transfer of the Registrar of GARHC, Harry Anthony Attipoe.
He believed that the animosity started after GARHC tasked the registrar, to use his rich experience in the Chieftaincy Acts to hold workshops and seminars for all the paramountcies in the region which has gone a long way to ensure sanity in the region.
In the course of the workshops, the Mankralo stated that the minster directed the members of the House to call off the workshop “because he said Attipoe was projecting himself too much.”
He noted that the minster took advantage of the persistent protest embarked by some Ga-Adangbe youth over unproven allegations that the registrar had sold some Kpone lands, to transfer the registrar to the Volta Region.
“We are not against transfer, but that should not be used as a form of punishment on somebody who has been tasked by another body to help it be abreast with some developments it does not understand.”
“The immense peace we are enjoying in our various traditional areas is as a result of the hard work and constant workshops on conflict resolution Harry Attipoe has been taking the paramount chiefs in the Region through,” Nene Benta pointed out.
Caption: Nene Atsure Benta III addressing the news conference flanked by some leadership of the GARHC.
From Vincent Kubi, Dodowa