GOVT TO PAY COMPENSATION TO TRADITIONAL COUNCILS (PAGE 40)

Story: Samuel Duodu, Sunyani

THE government has set up a machinery under which traditional councils whose stool lands have been acquired will be paid the requisite compensation.
In this regard, some traditional councils have lodged their documents with the Ministry for Chieftaincy and Culture for the payment of compensation.
The sector Minister, Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, who disclosed this, urged others who had not presented their documents to do so.
He was responding to an appeal by the Sunyanihene, Nana Bosoma Asor Nkrawiri II, when the minister called on him at his palace in Sunyani as part of the his week-long tour of the Brong Ahafo Region.
Nana Bosoma had complained that most of the stool lands belonging to the traditional council had been vested in the government, while no compensation had been paid for those that had been acquired.
He also requested that some of the vested lands which were not in use should be returned to the traditional council, since it was from those lands that the chiefs also got some funds to run their activities and programmes.
Mr Boafo stated that his visit was to learn at firsthand the problems that confronted the chiefs and how best they could be resolved and gave the assurance that the issues raised would be taken on board for discussion.
The minister added that the chieftaincy institution was still relevant for the socio-economic development of the country, hence the government’s decision in setting up a ministry for the institution to make it play a more effective role in nation building.
He said since the ministry came into being, it had been able to provide some logistics, such as four-wheel-drive vehicles, for all the regional houses of chiefs to facilitate their administration.
Mr Boafo added that there was a Chieftaincy Bill in the offing in which the issue of capacity building for both chiefs and staff of the Chieftaincy Secretariat and the traditional council registries would be addressed, saying the ministry was also working hard to ensure that the registries were provided with at least a computer each to enhance their filing systems.
He disclosed further that the working conditions and remuneration of staff of the Chieftaincy Secretariat would also be looked at in order to attract and retain high calibre personnel to enhance the institution in the country.
He reiterated the call on various traditional councils in the country to codify their succession to take away the numerous disputes that had bedevilled the institution in recent times.
Mr Boafo and his entourage later inspected the ongoing GH¢520,000 modern palace complex for the Sunyani Traditional Council in Sunyani.
Earlier in the day, he had called on the Sunyani Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Kwame Twumasi-Awuah, in his office.