National House of Chiefs wants some portions of Chieftaincy Act amended

The National House of Chiefs has set up an eight-member legal committee to make recommendations to Parliament for amendment of certain portions of the Chieftaincy Act.

This followed a ruling by the Supreme Court, expunging section 63 (d) of the Act, 2008 Act 759, under which deliberate refusal to honour a call from a Chief to attend to an issue was an offence.

An ex-Paramount Chief of Goaso, Nana Adjei Ampofo, had filed a writ at the nation’s highest court to among other reliefs challenge the constitutionality of this provision of the Act and secured judgment in his favour on July 20.

Wulugu Naba Pugansoa Naa Professor John S. Nabila, President of the House, is the Chairman of the Committee.

Addressing an emergency general meeting of the NHC in Kumasi, the Wulugu Naba said the judgment had clearly drawn a distinction between customary and statutory law – constitutional requirement.

He admitted that there was little they could do, adding, asking for judicial review could end up in the same result.

He said they needed to act together with some sense of urgency to deal with the fallout of the ruling to prevent confusion in the traditional areas.

Naa Prof Nabila said already some people on hearing the court’s judgment had started refusing to attend chiefs’ calls and this he noted could lead to chaos and disrespect for the chieftaincy institution.

“We need to act while the iron is still hot”, he added.

He told the meeting that phase one of the “Ascertainment and Codification of the Customary Law Project” had been completed and that the next phase was about to start.

This would cover 30 selected traditional areas with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) providing the funding.

Source: GNA