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The Traditional Leader, An Agent of
Growth and Development-The Ghanaian Perspective
A GNA Feature by Maxwell Awumah
Hohoe, Sept. 27 Ghanadot/GNA -
Chieftaincy is among one of the oldest institutions of
civilization that has been bequeathed to mankind. It had and
continues to play an indispensable role in the scheme of
nation building, social stability and cohesion even in
modern day nation States.
This dynamic institution needs however to be blended faster
than it is happening now to enable it to prop up local
government as the base of all development and governance
processes in the country.
Who is a chief or a queen and how does he or she fit into to
the governance processes?
According to Article 277 of the 1992 Constitution of the
Republic of Ghana, a traditional leader or "chief" is a
person, who, hailing from the appropriate family and
lineage, has been validly nominated, elected or selected and
enstooled, enskinned or installed as a chief or queen (queenmother)
in accordance with the relevant customary law and usage.
Clearly, Article 275 says: A person shall not be qualified
as a chief if he/she has been convicted for high treason,
treason, high crime or for an offence involving the security
of the State, fraud, dishonesty or moral turpitude.
Article 276 (1) states: A Chief shall not take part in
active party politics; and any chief wishing to do so and
seeking election to Parliament shall abdicate his/her stool
or skin.
Significantly, Article 276 (2) states: Notwithstanding
clause (1) of the article and paragraph (C) of clause (3) of
article 94 of the Constitution, a Chief may be appointed to
any public office for which he/she is otherwise qualified.
Article 94 clause 3 (C) states: A person shall not be
eligible to be a Member of Parliament if he/she: (C) is a
Chief.
In addition to the relevant articles quoted from the
Constitution, it is observed that Chieftaincy in Ghana is
fully backed by the Chieftaincy ACT (ACT 370) of 1971.
Article 48 (1) of the Chieftaincy ACT defines a chief as an
individual who has, in accordance with customary law, been
nominated, elected and installed as a chief or as the case
may be appointed and installed as such and whose name for
the time being appears as a chief on the National Register
of Chiefs.
Evidently, Article 49 lists the following as categories of
Chiefs: Paramount Chiefs and the Asantehene, Divisional
Chiefs, Sub-Divisional Chiefs, Odikro and such other chiefs
not falling within any of the preceding categories as are
recognized by the Regional House of Chiefs.
The Unique Chieftaincy Institution
Of course, the institution of Chieftaincy in Ghana is
uniquely supported and established with the enactment of the
1992 Constitution and the Chieftaincy ACT 370 of 1971 and
the setting up of the Chieftaincy Secretariat. The
establishment of the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture
headed by a Minister and assisted by a Deputy is another
manifestation of the goodwill and importance the government
attaches to Chieftaincy.
The National House of Chiefs, Regional Houses of Chiefs and
Traditional Councils have all been set up by law to
strengthen the institution. As a further boost, Councils of
Elders have been established in nearly all villages and
towns to assist and advise chiefs.
A traditional leader indeed, is therefore amply armed to be
effective in the administration of justice, the practise of
traditional and customary law, fair play and good governance
at the local levels. He/she also serves as strong link
between the community and the outside publics especially the
District Assemblies and the Government.
Undoubtedly, Chiefs/Queens are largely perceived as the soul
of society, major power brokers, key factors of social
stability and agents of development and progress.
In fact they are in the forefront of championing the
political, economic and socio-cultural advancement of their
subjects and areas contrary to the former stance where the
institution was basically for the prosecution of war and
defence against external enemies.
Leadership Roles of Chiefs/Queens
Leadership interestingly, is the ability to influence people
or subjects towards the achievement of goals. It is also
directing, inspiring and influencing and at the same time
providing constructive feedback where appropriate. They set
high standards; build strong sense of teamwork, purpose,
group identity, delegated authority and deal effectively
with people's concerns and problems.
The leadership types include charismatic, whose
characteristics are visionary, opinionated with personal
risk, being sensitive to the environment and follower-needs
and the exhibition of extraordinary traits and behaviours.
An all-round leader needed to blend directive,
transactional, situational, servant and transformational
leadership qualities to conceptualize its goals and
aspirations for accelerated development.
Indeed, in governmental parlance as the private sector
referred to as the engine of growth, the traditional leader
is forth coming with this assertion and leading the crucial
development milieu in their jurisdiction for an accelerated
socio-economic growth but these could not be achieved in a
vacuum.
Chiefdom could tackle its vision and mission through at
least the establishment of running Committees such as
Planning, Development, Finance, Monitoring and Evaluation
and Excellence Award Committees, by appointing eminent
citizens to serve on such committees or periodically seek
their inputs towards a holistic execution of development
plan.
The Constitutional and Traditional Role of the Queen (Queenmother)
From the aforementioned definition of a traditional leader,
the position and status of the queen has been
constitutionally and legally recognized and guaranteed
according to Article 277 but their roles still continue to
evolve in the traditional setting. Though perceived as
underdogs they (Queenmothers) wield a lot of power on the
quiet or in camera.
Despite their limited public powers and influence the queen
serves as an important agent of social stability and
development, a symbol of adornment, traditional public
relations officer, facilitator, succour to the chief, an
embodiment of culture and customs, an institution of
socialization and the transmitter of cultural and social
norms, values and civilization.
The recognition and power of the queen however differs
across regional and traditional boundaries. For instance,
among the Ewes of Ghana, the queen does not enjoy full
public recognition and power as her counterparts in the
Ashanti. This is because the Akans practice matrilineal
system of inheritance and governance and the queen also
performs the all-important role of nominating or selecting a
chief. In the past the queen was expected to do the
nomination in consultation with the Kingmakers but these
days, they have arrogated to themselves the sole role,
thereby sometimes corrupting the chieftaincy system and
bringing in its wake unending controversies, intrigues and
litigations.
The Ewe queen on the other hand has no such powers. This is
because the Ewes practise patrilineal system of inheritance
and governance. It would have been suicidal to superimpose
the practice in a matrilineal monolithic system on that of a
patrilineal decentralized one. Admittedly some queens are
gaining more and more powers on their own personal accord,
influence, financial capacity and power.
In contemporary times, some queens are alleged to have
created their own "black stool", which is the embodiment of
the soul of society, besides claiming equality with the
chiefs and furthermore craving for membership of the
Regional and National Houses of Chiefs, could be said to be
alien to custom and tradition. But then in dealing with an
organic and evolving society where cultural evolution is
inevitable and even fashionable, perhaps one day the queen
may assume and perform the functions of the chief.
What would have gone wrong if queens were members of the
Houses of Chiefs? Would the complementary roles of Chiefs
and queens in the House, be able to move the chieftaincy
institution to the next level, which is fast becoming a
factor for conflict and destabilization?
The Way forward
On hindsight, the Chieftaincy institution could be described
as a paradox. It is progressive just as it is retrogressive.
It is an agent of social stability and peace but could be a
source of social conflict and instability. It serves as a
pole for tribal cohesion and unity but could equally
undermine national unity.
Despite these paradoxes chiefs and queens should be properly
repositioned and integrated into the local government system
for effective administration and deepening of grassroots
democracy and decentralization. This immediately calls for
the establishment of District Houses of Chiefs/Queens or is
it Houses of Chiefs (pardon me) to serve as a platform for
the conceptualization of development planning, good
governance and unity.
Chiefs and Queens should be repository of tradition and
custom especially language. It would be intriguing that
language, which is the temple in which the soul of those who
speak it is enshrined, would elude the youths and
generations yet unborn. According to Walt Whitman
(1819-1892), in his presentation "Slang in America",
language ... is something arising out of work, needs, ties,
joys, affections, tastes of long generations of humanity,
and has its bases broad and low, close to the ground, such
is the importance of a language to the people who speak it.
If children and the youth cannot speak and appreciate their
mother tongue, then we are about to lose our souls,
identity, self-esteem and dignity.
What would the chiefs and queens pride themselves about when
they preside over subjects who could not speak their own
language and are subservient to other cultures? Who purges
the status quo?
Chieftaincy, which could be equated to politics and religion
could be described as bedfellows but has been enmeshed in
uncertainties as the institution needs a redefinition of its
corporate roles to effectively promote its ideals in the
global village.
GNA
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