By Prince Acquah
Cape Coast, Oct 12, GNA-The Central Region House of Chiefs has directed the abdicated Paramount Chief of Agona Nsaba Traditional Area, Bishop Isaac Kwesi Dadzie Buabeng, to appease the Dwumana Okropong Family of Agona Nsaba with a befitting apology in his bid for reinstatement.
They issued the directive after both Bishop Buabeng and the family head, Opanyin Kofi Andoh, who is responsible for enstooling chiefs at Agona Nsaba, made their cases during arbitration in Cape Coast.
The case heard on camera at the House in Cape Coast was presided over by a three-member panel led by Nana Kwame Akonu X, Omanhen of Enyan Abaasa with Nana Kojo Kondua XI, Omanhen of Elmina and Okofo Okatakyi Nyarko Eku, Omanhen of Agona Nyakrom Traditional Area as the other member.
Bishop Buabeng, enstooled in 2016 as Osabarima Bishop Boapiah Afriyie II, willingly and duly renounced his stool on January 20 this year to heed incessant spiritual calls to do the work of God.
The abdication was to give him the leverage to oversee all the 13 branches of his church; All Nations Pentecostal Church, headquartered in Agona-Nsaba, where he superintends as the General overseer.
However, the bishop wrote to the Agona-Nsaba Traditional Council on September 1, 2022, to rescind his decision, and asked for reinstallation as the Paramount Chief with immediate effect.
“I regret any inconvenience caused and will fully cooperate with you to ensure the effective administration of the Council for the benefit of Nsabaman,” he said in his letter.
But the Nsaba Traditional Council, “vehemently and vigorously” rejected the withdrawal of the abdication letter based on “procedural impropriety” to compound his woes.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency after the arbitration, the family insisted that it was “too late” for the former Paramount Chief to be reinstated despite the directive by the Regional House of Chiefs.
Obaahemaa Adwoa Nkansa Aduam III, the Paramount Queen Mother and acting Paramount Chief of the Traditional Area, said the family had already initiated the process to select a new paramount chief, stressing that Bishop Buabeng had no chance of coming back.
She recounted how all attempts by the traditional authorities to talk him out of his decision to renounce the throne had failed.
She said Bishop Buabeng had already tried to abdicate the stool on two occasions which the family rejected, but they got fed up and accepted his decision on his third attempt.
She said the abdicated chief, who was already a pastor before his enstoolment, indicated that God had given him two years to serve as a chief, but the family managed to persuade him to serve for five years before he finally decided to leave against all appeals and advice.
“You cannot abdicate a stool and casually bring a letter to say you have resumed your position as Omanhen with effect from September 1. We want him to understand that the stool is sacred and the position of Omanhen cannot be taken for granted like any other,” the queen’s mother said.
Describing the development as unprecedented, Obaahemaa Aduam expressed surprise at the incident and reiterated that the family had resolved not to give him back the stool.
“The House of Chiefs has directed him to bring an apology to the family, but I am not sure we will accept it. Even if the family accepts it, we will have to present him to the whole town and that will be another hurdle for him,” she said.
She noted that the chieftaincy position had been opened to all worthy and qualified members of the family to contest.
Bishop Buabeng, however, declined to speak to the GNA.
GNA