Kontihene of New Juabeng Traditional Area, Baffour Nyantakyi Tutu Boateng
The Kontihene of New Juaben Traditional Area, Baffour Nyantakyi Tutu Boateng, has described as “preposterous” and “slavish fidelity of antiquity”, a response to a petition he sent to the National House Chiefs highlighting some anomalies in the Legislative Instrument 2409(LI2409) of the house.
The New Juaben Traditional Council, in a response signed by its acting president, Nana Twumasi Dankwa, had described the petition written by the Kontihene as “a fatal misjudgement”.
This description, which did not go down well with the Kontihene, is what prompted another response from Baffour Nyantakyi Tutu Boateng.
Petition
The Kontihene petitioned the National House Chiefs to, among other things, amend some anomalies identified in its Legislative Instrument 2409(LI2409).
According to the chief, there are “certain incontrovertible anomalies inherent in Regulation 7(1) (h) of the LI2409, which borders on the list of the divisional chiefs from the New Juaben Traditional Area, as pertained to all other traditional areas listed in the LI2409.”
He then asked the president of the National House of Chiefs and the House to cause an inquiry into the issue that led to the said anomaly and subsequently amend the LI.
In a response
In a response to the petition, the New Juaben Traditional Council said the claim by the Kontihene of alleged anomalies in the list of chiefs presented “is a fatal misjudgment”.
The Council added that the Kontihene did not seek clarification from them before proceeding with the petition.
“Kontihene made the fallacious and vicious statement in his petition that ‘anomalies have occurred in the list presented to the National House of Chiefs and its President. This statement is falsely blaming the Traditional Council without any basis whatsoever.
“If he was so sure that the original list submitted by the Traditional Council contained these anomalies, why didn’t he produce that list as documentary evidence to justify his wild claim?,” the statement said.
Kontihene’s second coming
However, following the response, the Kontihene, in another rebuttal, insisted that “questions of customary law are questions of law”, adding “in questions of law, as in the case of the anomalies detected in Regulation 7 (1) (h) of the L. I. 2409, hierarchical structure of relationships has no role to play, for as the adage goes, ‘the law is no respecter of persons’.”
“It must also be mentioned that in this era of Chieftaincy in modernity, progress and development can only be achieved in the Traditional Area through consensus building and mutual respect, not through slavish fidelity of antiquity,” a livid Kontihene added.
Source: dailystatesman.com.gh/Kwasi Frimpong
About The Author
