Some persons in government fueling chieftaincy disputes in Ga State
The Ga Paramount Stool is attributing the chieftaincy crisis in the Ga State to political interference by some persons in government.
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Subsequently, it has called on politicians to stop interfering in Ga chieftaincy matters, saying: “The Ga Stool knows no political colour and we would want that position to be respected by the NPP government and its operatives. We want the NPP government to respect the Ga Stool, the Ga State and the Ga people.”
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, the Dzasetse of the Ga Paramount Stool, Nii Yaote Oto Ga II, said: “It appears that the NPP government at any time it assumes power interferes with the installation of the Ga Mantse and determines who should be the Ga Mantse.”
It made specific mention of the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Ishmael Ashitey, Nii Adjiri-Blankson, a member of the Council of State, and Mr Lord Commey, the Director of Operations at the Flagstaff House, as those who had hands in the installation of Dr Kelvin Tackie as the new Ga Mantse.
Rightful Ga Mantse
The Dzasetse said: “Nii Tackie Adama Latse II is the rightful Ga Mantse; the rest are all jokers.”
“We recall with much pain and dismay the installation of the late Dr Jo Blankson as Ga Mantse under His Excellency President J.A. Kufuor’s administration with armoured cars, mobile missile launchers, water cannons and teeming armed policemen who invaded Ga Mashie to have Dr Jo Blankson installed,” he said.
According to him, the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs on Tuesday, October 17, 2017, in accordance with custom, tradition and practice, inducted the present Ga Mantse, King Tackie Adama Latse II into the membership of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs to enable him to take his rightful place as Ga Mantse and a member of the House.
It said the current Ga Mantse, King Tackie Adama Latse, was installed as Ga Mantse by the appropriate authorities on June 11, 2011, and presented to the Ga Traditional Council for the appropriate formal processes towards recognition in accordance with the provisions of the 1992 Constitution and the Chieftaincy Act, Act 759.
He added that the Ga Traditional Council, headed by the Otublohum Mantse, Nii Dodoo Nsaki III, accepted him into the membership of the Council and duly forwarded his chieftaincy forms (CD Forms) to the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs in Dodowa for onward transmission to the National House of Chiefs in Kumasi.
“After satisfying itself about the bona fides of King Tackie Adama Latse II, the National House accepted him into office as the Ga Mantse and registered his name in the National House of Chiefs as Ga Mantse on April 24, 2015”, he added.
Relinquishing power
He said the woes of the Ga State deepened when the acting President, Nii Dodoo Nsaki III, had to relinquish power as acting chief to induct King Tackie Adama Latse into office, resulting in the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) locking up the Ga Mantse Palace in Kaneshie under the guise of protecting the Ga Mantse.
The result, he said, was the over seven court cases which had been instituted against the present Ga Chief, which the Dzasetse said they had won all with a final case to be determined on November 16 next month.
Giving a background to how Dr Kelvin Tackie came into the scene, the Dzasetse said in 2010 he was rejected as one of the three applicants to be considered as Ga Mantse and the present Ga Mantse, Mr George Tackie Abia, was installed as King Tackie Adama Latse II.
“Unknown to us, the Regional Security Council was working in close cooperation with Dr Kelvin Tackie who now says he is the Ga Mantse,” he added.
He admonished all Gas to remain calm.
“We are law-abiding. We are not lawless. We believe in the operation of the rule of law. We fought Dr Jo Blankson and succeeded. We will fight Dr Kelvin Tackie and his collaborators and we will succeed,” he said.
One land two Lords
On Monday, October 23, 2017, barely a week after Nii Tackie Adama Latse II was inducted into the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs as the Ga Mantse, the controversy surrounding the installation of a substantive Ga Mantse reached another crescendo when the Ga Traditional Council installed Kelvin Nii Tackie as the ruler of the Ga State.
Under the stool name Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru, he was to become the fifth Ga Mantse to be installed since the death of Nii Amugi II about 13 years ago.
Some of the rulers before him are the late King Tackie Tawiah, known in private life as Jo Blankson, Nii Tackie Obli II, the current claimant, Nii Adama Latse, and Ayitey Canada.
The ceremony, which took place at the North Kaneshie Palace of the Ga State, was conducted amid heavy police presence to maintain law and order.
Armed police personnel, led by the officer in charge of operations at the Accra Regional Police Command, Chief Superintendent Mr Kwasi Ofori, mounted armoured cars and other police vehicles at strategic positions to avert any possible attack or clashes.
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