- "Why should I go to Accra to get a permit before I can explore what is in my own land? … you can have your treaties but leave my land for me."
Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II, the paramount chief of Cape Coast in the Central Region has said it is a nuisance for traditional authorities in the country to seek permission from the government on almost everything.
He blamed consistent political arrangements both past and present for the current nature of the chieftaincy institution in the country.
Speaking with Nana Yaa Mensah on the Sunday Night programme on Asaase 99.5, Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II said, “Before the Whiteman came chiefs were in charge of their own territories; they were the government with advisors around them and they looked after the welfare of their people.
“With the advent of politics as we see it today, chiefs as it were, are relegated to the background. The position they held and the part they played is not the same today; where you had the power to do certain things, you do not have the same power now.
“You have to channel certain decisions to Parliament and even to the government before you implement certain things and I wouldn’t say it’s an affront but it subjects the chief to either the government or to Parliament and that was not the case in the past. It is a nuisance; it’s a delay in the resolution of matters in your own environment,” he said.
“For example, if you are chief, that land of which you are the chief belongs to you [hold it in trust for the people] and therefore, anything whether minerals or whatever there is in that land, you should have control. If you are misusing it your people are there to check on you.”
“Why should I go to Accra to get a permit before I can explore what is in my own land? … you can have your treaties but leave my land for me,” he added.
Watch the full interview below:
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