The Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs has on 29th, 2023, inaugurated the Buipe and Busunu Traditional Councils all in the Gonja Traditional Area.
Paramount chief of the Buipe traditional area and President of the Buipe Traditional Council Buipewura Abdulai Mahama Jinapor (II) in an address read on his behalf said the establishment of the traditional area in his area will add to the responsibility of settling cases in a more formal manner in line with the chieftaincy laws of Ghana and entreated all chiefs who forms part of the Buipe traditional council to seek more knowledge in the quest of providing judicial responsibility on behalf of the newly created council.
He used the opportunity to caution all newly created traditional councils to remain loyal to the Gonja Kingdom of which the Yagbonwura is the King and Overlord. He said the creation of traditional councils does not make them autonomous from the Gonja Kingdom.
Buipewura Jinapor (II) used the opportunity to also invite the Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs to join him celebrate his 15years on the skins of Buipe as the Buipewura and his 75th birthday later this year.
Buipewura Jinapor (Ii) further expressed his appreciation to the Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs and also to President Nana Akufo Addo for creating the council for them.
Registrar of the Savannah Regional House of Chiefs
Mr Abutu Kapori after the swearing in of the members of the Buipe traditional council explained to the members of the Buipe Traditional Council the significance of the Oaths they were sworn in which were the Oath of Membership, the Oath of Judiciary and the Oath of Secrecy.
Mr Kapori also explained to them how their work as a council is going to be and entreated them to let the oaths they have sworn to guide and guard them in the administration of justice when the need arises.
He called on all the Chiefs and queen mothers to try and register their names to be gazetted so that they will also be part of the traditional council.
Conveying the message from the Savannah Regional House of Chiefs to the Ministry and the people of the Buipe traditional council, Mr Abutu Kapori said the House of Chiefs expresses their gratitude to the Ministry for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs for taking the decision to create a traditional council for the people of Buipe.
Mr Kapori mentioned that the Savannah Region has twenty-two (22) paramountcies and are still calling on the Ministry to create more of the traditional councils in the region.
He added that when they create more of the councils, the pressure on the Regional House of Chiefs will reduce, because they could not resolve some of the chieftaincy issues in the region, and with the existence of the traditional councils, they will be able to find lasting solutions to them.
Presenting the speech of the Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, the Acting Chief Director of the ministry Kananpewurche Fati Lily Soale, said the Minister sends his greetings and gratitude to the Buipewura and his Chiefs adding that the President Nana Akufo-Addo attaches much prominence to the administration of Chieftaincy in the country, adding that the chiefs play an important role in maintaining peace in the country.
She said the mandate of the ministry is to develop an effective interface between the government, traditional authorities, religious bodies and civil societies on matters that relate to chieftaincy and religious affairs for the promotion of peace.
Kananpewurche Fati added that in the past, the role of Chiefs was to lead their people to wars, protect and extend their territories but now they are required to lead a war against environmental degradation, poverty reduction among others that is aimed at achieving development in the local and national level.
She called on the chiefs to get to understand the processes and procedures involved in resolving conflicts through the judicial and arbitration system and other alternative methods in resolving conflicts that may arise with the traditional area.
The Kananpewurche further added that they need to know the processes involved in land allocation, granting leases and land administration in general and also have to know some of the laws that cover the chieftaincy institution.
She also congratulated the chiefs for their elevation to the council status and said there are a lot of works to be done adding that the inauguration should be seen to integrate the people of the traditional area to work hand -in -hand for endless development and cautioned that they don’t want them to be disintegrated by the inauguration.
She therefore on behalf of the Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs duly Inaugurated the Buipe Traditional Council and wished the Buipewura and his chiefs to remain united.
Earlier, the Busunu Traditional Council in the West Gonja Munipality was also inaugurated.
Busunuwura Monasa Jonokpowu (II) in an address indicated that the Busunu Traditional Area can boast of a total number of 77 sub-chiefs comprising 47 male Chiefs and 30 queen mothers making it eligible with the requisite number of chiefs to constitute a traditional council.
He added that the creation of a traditional council is associated with several benefits including employment
opportunities that will be created for the employment of staff and resource mobilization for the development of the traditional area will also be enhanced.
Busunuwyra Monasa indicated that the traditional council will
among things organize its own meetings which are legally backed by the Chieftaincy
Act 759 of 2006 to deliberate on issues pertaining to the development of the
traditional area.
He said it is his vision to establish a library with an archival section for the traditional authority where the rich history of Busunu will be safely kept for the present
generation and generations yet unborn hence the opportunity to establish the Busunu Traditional council will be used to galvanise
resources for the development of Busunu and its environs.
He called on all sons and daughters of Busunu to rally behind the traditional authority to
foster unity that will bring about the desired development of our traditional area.
Source: nkilgifmonline.com
