The Osu Kinkawe Dzaase, the only authorized body with the mandate to install Osu Mantse has cautioned government officials, organisations, diplomatic corps and the general public against dealing with Bernard Botchway, also known as Nortse Nii Nortey Owuo IV.
In a statement signed by the Head of the Dzaase (Dzaasetse), Nii Saban Atsen VII who is a gazetted Chief, the Dzaase said, Bernard Botchway’s recent claims in sections of the media that he is the Osu Mantse are false and in contempt of Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, which has restrained him from holding himself as the Osu Mantse.
The Dzaase, therefore, urged political leaders, diplomats and the general public “not to associate or deal with the said gentleman in the capacity as Osu Mantse as he has not been installed as the Osu Mantse by the Osu Kinkawe Dzaase, the only authorized body mandated to install Osu Mantse.
“As directed by the Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, all authority pertaining to the Osu Traditional Area and the Osu Stool, have in the interim, been vested in the Osu Kinkawe Dzaase under the leadership of the Head of the Dzaase (Dzaasetse), Nii Saban Atsen VII,” the statement said.
It added that, Bernard Botchway had the penchant for courting favours from politicians, and accused him of such tendencies during the era of the immediate past NPP government.
“In typical fashion, he appears bent on continuing in this enterprise of cultivating political leaders to embolden and insulate him in his show of disrespect to our legal institutions and in his attempt to force himself onto the Osu Stool…We are aware that Bernard Botchway has a shrewd way of seeking approval from the political elite, as evident in his dealings with the immediate past NPP government. It is evident that he usually seeks photo opportunities with top politicians, diplomats and other persons of influence in a bid to gain public influence and acceptance,” the statement said.
It noted that while the person installed by the Dzaase, Teteete Nii Nortey Owuo IV also known in private life as Nicholas Nii Nortey Owuo, a Civil Engineer with the Ghana Highway Authority, has restrained himself in accordance with the court order, “Bernard Botchway continues in this flagrant disrespect of our legal system, apparently as he was empowered by some persons in the previous NPP government”.
The statement added that his continuous disregard for the Restraining Order was the subject of contempt proceedings at the High Court in Accra, and indicated that, despite being cited for contempt, Bernard Botchway has dealt with the High Court with utter contempt and failed to appear at hearings with one excuse or the other.
It said, Bernard Botchway had been aided by one Ishmael Nortey Adumuah, who had no authority whatsoever to install an Osu Mantse, and “has been suspended and further dismissed as the Oshiahene of Osu by the Osu Kinkawe Dzaase”.