Succession Troubles

Succession Troubles

By E. Ofori Akyea

When a chief is selected to replace a recently deceased one within a space of a year everyone is ecstatic because the process has taken such a short time to be concluded. The rule, as it seems to the uninitiated, seems to be that of an interminable wrangling between different groups as to who the rightful successor to the stool would be.

The impression is created that the system is so flawed as to create room for confusion. The succession controversy in Dagbon is a case in point. From about 1969 the confusion surrounding the succession to the Dagbon skin has cost more lives than is necessary. In 2002 the overlord of Dagbon together with 40 of his elders were murdered. Despite the best efforts of a high powered government enquiry the facts surrounding the killings and the basis of the insecurity in the Yendi area, the facts are still being disputed.

Let me add to this litany of woes the problems being encountered in Anlo where it is becoming impossible to find a way to elect and enstool a new Awoamefia or the Paramount Chief of Anlo. Then there is the ongoing fight over who the rightful Ga Mantse is.

I just heard that there were the rumblings of trouble in Amanokrom, a little town in Akwapim over who the right successor of the late Nana Wereko Ampem really was. Subsequent reports indicate that a new chief has been outdoored and installed. Indeed, I saw photographs of happy people including the new chief with white talc powdered all over him. So well and good, I hope as the end of the fable goes “everyone lives happily thereafter” we shall hear no more of this event.

In cases as those cited above the litigants often forget is that they are dragging the reputation of the stool into disrepute by their actions. Social cohesion and peace is destroyed and no development takes place.

In this particular case the late chief by sheer force of character, his considerable wealth and influence both nationally and internationally were brought together to raise the status of the stool and its prestige. Consequently, all the citizens of Amanokrom could bask in the glow of pride and that made Amanokrom a fulcrum of development in the area. I am sure that the late Nana Ampem will rest peacefully knowing that his legacy of good governance and progress is intact.

I am certain that there are many more chieftaincy disputes all over the country that I have heard nothing about. Also it is not uncommon to hear of dead chiefs being kept in mortuaries for months and even years because there is a dispute about the succession. The litigation contractors will find any reason or none at all to cause trouble.

It is amazing that the institution that has been vilified and its demise predicted many times over can evince such powerful emotions and passion. People will literally kill to be chiefs and in our communities chiefs are not only respected highly, they are held in high esteem. Politicians, for example, have to go through them to have access to the general populations in an area.

Communities wish to have chiefs who have distinguished themselves in their professions or in life generally. To qualify to be a chief one does not only have to come from the Royal Family of an area, one has to have the means to act as a chief. Remember there is no salary attached to the stool. There seems to be a sign warning all who aspire to stools and skins saying “the poor, those of bad character and illiterates need not apply”.

Until today the impression is given that the people of this country do not have a clear system of succession. The opposite is the case. The confusion, in my view, comes about as a result of colonialism, poverty and politics. Let me tell you of my participation in the choice of a new chief in my capacity as a Kingmaker. My account will, I hope, help to explain the problem of chiefs’ succession in our country.

Let me begin by making the assertion that kingmakers are powerful individuals in the community. Their power derives largely from the fact that they operate an opaque collegial system that leaves a lot of room for corruption from whatever quarter to fester. Instead of the white smoke through the chimney to announce the choice of a new chief they often manage to send rainbow coloured smoke with which to stoke the fires of confusion leading to social disintegration.

Having come to live among the people I was co-opted by the elders to be a member of the council of Kingmakers. The qualification to be a kingmaker is as elastic as far as the elastic can be stretched. My particular credentials seem to be that I had lived abroad and come home to live in my own house and I had car to prove that I was solvent.

The particular town that I live in has a glorious history. The missionary enterprise of the Europeans started there. Their efforts yielded excellent results. From the schools that they set up the colonial administration recruited a long line of clerks. Several pupils, both boys and girls, were selected to continue their education elsewhere in the then Gold Coast. It was an emotional reunion a few weeks ago between the Vice President and his Form Two teacher who prepared him for his Common Entrance Examination some forty six years ago! The old man, a native of the town, had also taught for a short time in the school that was celebrating its Golden Jubilee.

I would say that more than 60 per cent of the inhabitants can read and write. I would say that the majority of the inhabitants are either over 60 or less than 20 years old. Since nothing is available for young people in the town they have joined the army of migrants to Accra and beyond. Almost every girl over 12 years is a mother and the young men roam incessantly around town. It used to be the norm for parents to send their children “home” to school. Rural schools were reputed to be good and the children spent their time studying while learning to be good citizens steeped in the traditions of home to create a total person. Not anymore.

We asked an unemployed girl of 18 and a mother of a four year old son to help us in the house for pay. She told us that she could not stay with us since her friends would laugh at her for working as a servant. If we were white she would have “killed” for the job. This time our skin colour was against us even though we were going to pay her a salary much higher than the average with the promise of helping her to further her education. But I fear I am digressing. Let us get back to our point of the moment.

When the Kingmakers met there were two candidates presented. Everyone in the town knew the first candidate to be mentioned very well to be a troublesome youngman. He did various utility jobs for people. In almost each case that he had done some work for someone there was controversy of some kind. Speaker after speaker confirmed the unsuitability of the youngman to be chief.

Then came the turn of the two members who had remained silent until then, to speak up to the issue and give their views on the candidates. The other candidate, they said, did not live in the town. They did not want an absentee chief anymore. They also began raising some questions about the parentage of the other candidate. Everyone present was taken aback. They not only tried to defend the indefensible but proceeded to accuse the rest of us to be as unreasonable as we were biased.

After a period of acrimonious exchanges they left the meeting in a huff. We later learnt that that first candidate had “nicodemously” visited the two individuals and done the “right thing” then. Well, the other kingmakers had no difficulty giving the nod to the second candidate as our next chief.

It is clear that many of the succession disputes arise out of corrupting the people who should guard the institution. The economic situations in which many of them live make them susceptible to corruption. Sometimes the amounts involved are so desultory as to render the whole episode laughable

The other problem is that of people who have come into some money and think that they need to be titled. Add to this those who are nowhere near the succession of the stool or skin but because of overweening ambition seek to become chiefs. They are the really dangerous individuals who pose the greatest threat to our revered institution of chieftancy.