Chiefs and Elders of the Osu Traditional Council have appealed to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, to press on officials responsible for the payment of compensations to the Osu stool for its lands given out for the Marine Drive Project to expedite the process and make good the payments due them.
Addressing the President at the Jubilee House when they paid a courtesy call on him, leader of the delegation, Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, Osu Mantse and President of the Osu Traditional Council, observed that they support the vision of the government and every effort of development.
“However, as we are speaking of now, no compensation has been paid to any of the stools. Instead, there are rumors in the community that Nii Okwei Kinka alone has gone to take all the monies,” the Osu Mantse said. He pleaded with the President saying, “We want you to show goodwill to us by at least meeting us someway”.
Homowo Festival
In his submissions, Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, said the traditional council “is poised to have an incident-free Homowo”. He noted that whenever the festival is drawing near, certain deviants show up in their communities to disrupt the peace of same.
“We humbly suggest that we root out these miscreants for us to have a peace Homowo,” the Ga Mantse said.
The Traditional Councils
The Osu Mantse on the issue of the establishment of 13 paramouncies in the Greater Accra Region, noted that it is time to empower them to avert any further problems from being created in the Greater Accra Region.
“Once Traditional Councils have been created for these paramouncies, issues pertaining to traditional issues, chieftaincy and everything, permissions or letters should be routed through the traditional council. By so doing, we believe that it will minimize lots of chieftaincy issues,” Nii Kinka Dowuona VI said.
Response of the President
President Akufo Addo in his response to all the interests of the Osu Traditional Council noted that the issue of compensation is a matter of law and that would not be a problem whatsoever. He welcomed the resolve of the chiefs to ensure that this year’s Homowo festival celebration is carried out incident-free. He assured that the central government will play its role to support the effort.
President Akufo Addo described as a sensible suggestion, the call to empower the traditional councils to have oversight on applications for chieftaincy and traditional events. He charged the Chieftaincy Minister to pick it up and detail it for legislation if need be.
On the issue of stool lands and all other issues raised by the chiefs, the President assured them that his government will look into them and report back to them appropriately.
