The kingmakers of Nungua have justified the enstoolment of Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo as the chief of Katamanso, a jurisdiction under Nungua stool.
Mr Afotey Agbo, a former MP for Kpone Katamanso, who has since 2018 been the regent of Katamanso and enstooled over the weekend will now be known as Nii Laryea Akuetteh X.
The justification by the kingmakers was necessitated by a challenge to the enstoolment by the Adjen Family of Katamanso who argued that a new chief could not be enstooled while there is a substantive one.
But at a press conference in Nungua, Accra, on Wednesday, the Dzaasetse of Nungua, Nii Botwe Laryea II, who is clothed with the authority to enstool the Katamanso chief said, the enstoolment was well grounded in the custom of the Nungua and Katamanso people.
He explained that the kingmakers could not have enstooled a new Chief if there was a substantive one; emphasising that the former Chief of Katamanso, Nii Otu Akuetteh IX, who had been indisposed for years, had passed on.
Speaking in the local Ga language, Dzaasetse Nii Botwe Laryea II said the concern of the Adjen family was borne out of ignorance.
“We the kingmakers who enstooled Nii Laryea Akuetteh X understand the custom and tradition of the Nungua and Katamanso people. We are the kingmakers and we know that he is the rightful heir, so we enstooled him. There’s is nothing wrong with the enstooolment of Nii Akuetteh X. He is the rightful heir,” he said.
He said “If they care to know, I want to make it public that the Chief of Katamanso is dead and per our custom, we need a new chief to oversee his burial and Nii Laryea Akuetteh X is well placed to be enstooled as the new chief of Katamanso and that is exactly what did,” he said.
According to him, the Adjen family protesting the enstoolment had no locus in the chieftaincy affairs of the Katamanso people and should be disregarded.
The Dzaasetse, Nii Botwe Laryea, urged the indigenes of Katamanso to disregard the challenge to Nii Laryea Akuetteh X’s enstoolment and accord him the necessary courtesies as their new chief to drive the development of the Katamanso area.
Nii Laryea Akuetteh X served four terms as Member of Parliament for the Kpone Katamanso constituency and also as the Greater Accra and Volta Regional Minister
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
