A group by name United Volta
Youth is calling on the President of the National House of Chiefs to step down
for questioning the rationale behind the YES campaign and calling on the
electorate to vote NO.
A press statement issued by the group, said “The leader of the National House
of Chiefs has tainted his position with extreme partisan views, the very views
he claims his outfit frowns upon, and this is inimical to the cohesion we
expect to see in the traditional authority.”
Full statement below…
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his desire to strengthen our
democracy by making sure that our local governance structures are enhanced
through the participation of political parties and to also reduce the cancerous
phenomenon the winner takes all syndrome breeds, has decided to cede some of
his powers to the electorate.
In doing so, the President consulted all the three former presidents of the
Republic and held discussions on how best to go about it. Political parties, he
stressed, should be allowed to contest in the district assembly elections as
well as MMDCEs should also be elected on partisan basis, and this was the
agreement.
To effect that, the entrenched constitutional provision of Article 55 (3) must
be amended through a referendum. To this end, the YES campaign train began with
all the political parties in support.
Then on the 12th day of November, 2019, the opposition National Democratic
Congress, in a move seen by many as treacherous, stabbed the YES campaign
vehicle in the back with a switch to NO. The National Chairman of the party,
Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, has since asked all NDC members to vote NO on the day of
the elections.
No sooner had the NDC changed course than a communiqué purported to have come
from the National House of Chiefs came out, questioning the rationale behind
the YES campaign and calling on the electorate to vote NO instead. The
communiqué further averred that Nananom had reached a consensus on the matter
and this was signed by
Togbe Afede VIX and Daasebre
Nana Kweku Ewusi VII, the President and Vice President respectively of the
traditional authority.
Soon after this strange communiqué from the National House of Chiefs, Ogyeahoho
Yaw Gyebi, the President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs who also
doubles as the leader of the Governance Committee of the authority, the
committee that has jurisdictional powers over such matters, came out to dispute
the claims made by Togbe Afede and his partner in crime.
According to Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi, no such meetings were held by the body to
deliberate on the referendum, let alone ask Ghanaians to vote NO.
Togbe Afede VIX came out with dates on which some of the meetings he claimed
had been held but it was to be disputed, once again by Nana S. K. B. Asante.
According to Nana S. K. B. Asante, no meeting had been held by the National
House of Chiefs which had the referendum as part of the agenda or the main one.
He could not fathom how such misinformation could be sent out there when the
group was yet to meet and discuss the matter in issue.
The Okyehene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin also waded into the issue by stating
emphatically that the National House of Chiefs had met nowhere to deliberate on
the referendum and could not understand why such a misconception could be
propagated by Togbe Afede as a decision representing the views of all the
members of the National House of Chiefs.
In the light of these, Togbe Afede VIX has acted arbitrarily. He has arrogated
powers to himself which should not be the case. He sought to engaging in some
self-serving, parochial interests based upon reasons not consistent with the
workings of the body.
The leader of the National House of Chiefs has tainted his position with
extreme partisan views, the very views he claims his outfit frowns upon, and
this is inimical to the cohesion we expect to see in the traditional authority.
For going out of his way to issue such a statement without the knowledge of the
other members, for sidestepping the rules of engagement of the body, for
engaging in an act that shows him supporting the beliefs of one political
grouping, and for putting the name of the revered institution into disrepute,
Togbe Afede has compromised his position as the President of the National House
of Chiefs and must accordingly step down.
CONVENERS
0244955021
Sammy Kwasi Ganuvi
MARTIN-JERRY AGBOMADZI
0500016676
KWAME D. AKPABLIE
0243329350
