LAP WILL REDUCE CHIEFTAINCY DISPUTES — AMOAH (PAGE 20)

THE Western Regional Minister, Mr A.E. Amoah, has stated that the codification of the various customary rules as well as the implementation of the Land Administration Project (LAP) will ensure that chieftaincy disputes and land issues are reduced to the barest minimum.
He has, therefore, called on the traditional authorities to give their support to the efforts being made to codify the various customary rules across the country so that they could be accessible in the various traditional areas as we move from one part of the country to another.
Mr Amoah was addressing the general meeting of the Western Regional House of Chiefs in Sekondi.
He stressed that the differences arising from ethnic and cultural diversity should not retard the progress of the country, adding “On the contrary, it should be an asset that could impact positively on our development since it has the potential of giving us a wide range of ideas and values to choose from”.
That, Mr Amoah explained, was exactly what the Ascertainment of the Customary Law Project sought to do.
He stressed the need to approach the issue of the oil find as a region and not as ethnic groups, district assemblies or traditional areas.
“It is only when we have a united front and are ready to develop the industry in peace and harmony that investors will be interested in putting their money into the industry,” he explained.
Mr Amoah noted that closely connected with the oil find was the issue of the sale of land and therefore entreated the chiefs to work in close collaboration with the district assemblies to have the various areas properly zoned and serviced.
That, the regional minister noted, would give the chiefs a higher value for their land than they could obtain when sold in their current state.
He said as traditional rulers, the development of the region depended on them and therefore their activities should help promote peace and unity in their respective jurisdictions.
The President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, Awulae Attibrukusu III emphasised that there was great misconception about who owned land in the region.
This misconception, he said, had resulted in a situation where some divisional chiefs and even Adikrofo were claiming ownership of lands in their respective areas.
“It must interest you to know that some divisional chiefs and Adikrofo sign indentures on the sale of lands without recourse to the Paramount Chiefs,” Awulae Attibrukusu said, adding “This misconception is gaining wide currency, especially in the southern part of the region and if care is not taken, a time will come when the paramount stool will have no land to its credit”.
He said four years ago, the Western Region was ranked second in the whole country in terms of chieftaincy cases pending before the Judicial Committee, but today, as a result of the hard work of the committee, cases pending at the committee had reduced drastically.
Awulae Attibrukusu said the region had now been ranked ninth with only 16 cases pending before the Judicial Committee of the house.
He, therefore, appealed to all members of the house who qualified to sit on the Judicial Committee to come on board to enable the House to reduce the number of chieftaincy cases pending before the committee to a single digit.