Lack of well-documented plans of succession is a major cause of the numerous chieftaincy disputes currently experienced in some parts of Northern Ghana, stakeholders in conflict management and peacebuilding have identified.
The situation, according to the stakeholders, has created a culture and environment of greed and lust for power among some traditional governance systems leading to several protracted chieftaincy and related conflicts in some traditional areas.
The stakeholders, including the Catholic Church, traditional authorities, the Upper East Regional Security Council and Peace Council, underscored the urgent need for traditional areas to take steps to develop and document clear succession plans according to their culture and traditions to help minimize chieftaincy disputes.
The stakeholders made the call during a Chieftaincy Act and Succession Planning training, organised for members of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs by the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocesan Development Organisation (NABOCADO), the development wing of the Catholic Diocese of Navrongo-Bolgatanga and held at Pusu-Namongo in the Talensi District.
The training was part of the implementation of the Integrated Peacebuilding for Improved Food and Nutrition Support (INPEACE) project by NABOCADO and sponsored by the MISEREOR, a German Catholic Church Organisation.
Very Reverend Father Lawrence Azure, the Vicar General of the Diocese, noted that sustainable peace was not only a sign of God’s presence in the life of humanity but a necessary ingredient to achieving sustainable socioeconomic development and national cohesion.
“You will all bear with me that Palestine and Israel or the Middle East for that matter has become a pale shadow of itself since October.
“Our own backyard, Bawku has become a pale shadow of itself as the economic and normal social life of the people have all been disrupted by this aged old chieftaincy conflict, many have lost their livelihoods and lives and several others have been maimed in all these conflicts,” he said.
Chieftaincy, he said, an important institution over the years had become one of the major causes of conflicts in many communities in recent times and attributed the challenge to a lack of document succession plans and the willingness of power seekers to abide by such plans
“As a result of greed and lust for power, there are some of people who will always want to put aside laid down succession roadmaps in other to ascend to the throne when it is not yet their tenure.”
Mr Ali Anankpieng, the Executive Secretary of the Upper East Reginal Peace Council, explained that the judiciary and the chieftaincy institution were the most resilient institutions that had survived colonial, military and democratic rule, however, it was open secret that the chieftaincy was one of the major causes of conflicts in the country.
He noted that due to the issue of succession, some chiefs had become parties in chieftaincy disputes making their resolutions tedious, and urged the chiefs to develop documented roadmaps for succession to help minimise the conflicts.
In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Stephen Yakubu, the Upper East Regional Minister, said seven traditional councils in the region had completed their succession plans awaiting approval from the national level and commended NABCADO for working to promote peace in the region.
Dr Joseph Bangu, the Director of the Good Governance, Justice and Peace Directorate, NABOCADO, said the project had contributed to building peace structures at the community and district levels in the North East and Upper East Regions, which had helped to restore relative peace in communities.
He said the project aimed to consolidate the gains at the regional levels and help traditional areas to document succession plans to improve governance and reduce chieftaincy conflicts.
Naba Baba Salifu Atamale Lemyaarum, the Paramount Chief of the Bongo Traditional Area, noted that call for documented succession plans for traditional areas was the right one and called for support to help traditional areas document their succession plans
