Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, has observed with concern that so far as chiefs keep running to politicians for favours, the chieftaincy front will remain divided and eventually lose its relevance.
Addressing a durbar of Nananom at the inauguration of the renovated National House of Chiefs'(NHC) building in Kumasi, the Asantehene said, “as fathers of this nation, politics came to meet you and the politicians came later … but ask yourself, why you are not being recognised as such? It is because of our own doing.”
He said “we troop to politicians begging them for certain things so we are divided in the front. You have to be united; you should know the essence of chieftaincy”.
He said “let them come to you for advice, let them come to you for direction… if you do not do that and you go for your petty whatever benefits that you want, you will sell your heritage to the politicians.”
According to the Asantehene, “I am stressing on this because chieftaincy has something to do for Ghana and if we don’t, the relevance of it will be questioned by the youth who don’t appreciate yesterday but today.”
He commended the President of the House, Togbe Afede XIV, for leading Nananom to bring nobility to the colonial ediface which saw no major renovation since its establishment in 1949.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu announced that, he had allocated a piece of land at Asenua, in the Kwabre East District of Ashanti, for the development of the NHC complex, which, when completed, would comprise of offices for Nananom and staff of the House.
He entreated the House to bring the project into fruition, in order to enable it solve the accommodation challenges Nananom were confronted with, when they attend meetings of the House.
On his part, Togbe Afede, said restoring reverence and nobility to chieftaincy had been his aim and agenda ever since he got the chance to lead the House as the President in 2016.
He said bringing dignity to the chieftaincy institution was his major objective, and so it was important to work hard to ensure independence of the institution as stated in the constitution.
He said, spending GH¢3.5million to renovate the House that befitted Nananom, was important and necessary considering the deplorable state the House was in at the time.
The Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Kofi Djamesi, addressing the gathering disclosed that, government had authorised the refund of the GHC¢.5million spent on the renovation of the House.
Similarly, he announced that, the government, through his Ministry, had released an amount of GH¢ 800.000 to the contractor working on the new NHC project at Asenua and GH¢ 900,000 has already been released to the House to tackle chieftaincy cases at the various Regional House of Chiefs.
Built in 1949 by Otumfuo Sir Osei Agyemang II, the National House of Chief’s edifice never experienced any form of major renovations making the building once a death trap anytime the rain sets in until 2015 when renovation committee was set up by the House and later in 2017 it was absorbed into the Finance and Infrastructure Committee to see to its renovation.
FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE, KUMASI
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