By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, Aug. 2, GNA – The National Peace Council (NPC) has appealed to traditional authorities in the Bono Region to help in resolving the rising and disturbing cases of chieftaincy disputes for unity and social cohesion to prevail in the region.
Alhaji Suallah Abdallah Quandah, the Bono Regional Executive Secretary of the NPC, made the appeal at the opening of a stakeholders’ dialogue on chieftaincy and land disputes in Sunyani on Tuesday.
The NPC Regional Secretariat organised the dialogue in honour of the late Paramount Queenmother of the Sunyani Traditional Area, Nana Yaa Nyamaa Poduo II, on the theme: “Managing and Resolving Chieftaincy and Land Disputes through Dialogue and Consensus Building.”
It was attended by chiefs and queens, representatives of the Christian Council of Churches, Islamic Clerics, and district/municipal chief executives.
Alhaji Quandah said those disputes threatened the peace of the region, particularly as some of the feuding factions had taken entrenched positions, making resolutions extremely difficult.
Nine out of the 17 paramountcies in the region were bedeviled with chieftaincy disputes, which needed to be resolved amicably to maintain peace and promote development, he said.
“We are trying our best to resolve these disputes, but our efforts seemed meaningless because some of the chiefs and queens have taken entrenched positions,” Alhaji Quandah said.
“lack of codified succession procedures, desire to control resources, increased royalties and positional blindness” were some of the factors fueling chieftaincy disputes in the region.
Nana Bofo Bene IV, the Paramount Chief of the Dwenem-Awasu Traditional Area in the Jaman South Municipality, expressed regret that chieftaincy and land disputes had disintegrated many families and exposed the chieftaincy institution to public ridicule and disrepute.
He, therefore, appealed to the feuding factions in the disputed paramountcies to endeavour to bury their differences and cooperate with the relevant stakeholders towards finding lasting solutions to the disputes to build and strengthen family ties.
Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister, emphasised that peace building and sustenance remained a shared and collective responsibility, hence the need for everybody to support in achieving that.
Good governance and sustainable democracy were anchored on sustained peace, she said, and commended the NPC for its efforts towards building sustainable peace in the region.
She acknowledged the contributions of traditional leaders towards promoting socio-cultural values and sustainable development and expressed the hope that the NPC would do more to resolve disputes that threatened the peace.
GNA