Tensions in James Town, Accra, continue to escalate as the Ngleshie Alata Traditional Council strongly opposes the recent induction of Prince Asharku-Bruce Quaye into the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs under the title Oblempong Wetse Kojo II.
At the heart of the dispute is a disagreement over the rightful occupant of the Ngleshie Alata Stool.
The traditional council asserts that the name Wetse Kojo II was historically assigned to the late Henry George Vanderpuye, who was installed as chief on January 27, 1939. As a result, any new claimant should be referred to as Wetse Kojo III, not Wetse Kojo II, hence the current claimant is fraudulently using the title.
Document available to this paper signed by the then Provincial Commissioner’s Office in 1935 dated November 10, 1941 stated that “….Dealing with the findings of the Ga State Council, it will be seen that after an exhaustive enquiry the Council recommends that His Excellency be pleased to accept the election and installation of Henry George Vanderpuye to be the Mantse of Alata, James Town, under the Stool name Wetse Kojo II, with effect from the 27th January, 1939.”
With these details, the Traditional Council condemned the induction of Prince Asharku-Bruce Quaye as premature and illegitimate.
It criticised the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, particularly its president, Oboade Notse King Professor Odaifio Welentsi III, for allegedly disregarding due process.
The Traditional Council revealed that the chieftaincy dispute remains unresolved in court, yet the House of Chiefs proceeded with the induction, an act he described as unlawful and further accused Prince Asharku-Bruce Quaye of bypassing a court directive by having his registration form signed by an unauthorized official rather than the Registrar of the Ngleshie Alata Stool.
With tensions running high, the Acting Mantse and Dzasetse of the Ngleshie Alata Paramountcy, Nii Okpey V has called on national security agencies and government officials, including President John Dramani Mahama, Interior Minister Muntaka Mohamed-Mubarak, and IGP George Akuffo Dampare, to step in and resolve the crisis before it escalates further.
Security concerns are growing in the community, with fears that continued disputes over the chieftaincy could lead to violence if left unresolved.
