Investigative journalist and Editor in Chief of The Fourth Estate, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has criticized Nana Dankwah Dwubin-Siaw I, the chief of Drobonso in the Sekyere Afram Plains district of the Ashanti region.
Manasseh Awuni questioned the chief’s ability to boast about sacking presidential candidate Nana Kwame Bediako, also known as Cheddar from his community for failing to seek his permission before campaigning while failing to take action against illegal mining in the area.
In a reaction shared on his X account, Awuni stated, “I have read the story and seen a video of the chief boasting about how he sacked Nana Kwame Bediako from campaigning in the town.
The candidate’s supposed offense was campaigning in Drobonso without first visiting the chief’s palace to pay homage.”
Those who live in Ghana know that this is never done, irrespective of what the laws say. A politician who enters a town or village must first visit the custodian of the land, the chief, to seek his or her blessings, which is often understood to mean permission.
Our chiefs are so powerful that you cannot disrespect them and get away with it, not even politicians.
So why do the chiefs suddenly lose their power when people invade their lands and engage in illegal mining?
Lands in Ghana are owned by the chiefs and traditional authority, so why do they sit down and watch while their forests, farms and water bodies are destroyed?
Are they so helpless that they can’t even talk?
Why is it easy for a chief to expel a presidential candidate from a town and not have the power to stop or pressure the government to stop illegal mining?
Why are our chiefs so powerful against everything else but powerless in the fight against the destruction of their lands?
Why?
I have read the story and seen a video of the chief of Drobonso boasting of how he sacked Nana Kwame Bediako from campaigning in the town. The presidential candidate’s crime was that he started campaigning in Drobonso without first visiting the chief’s palace to pay homage.… pic.twitter.com/jbGzWv8Wgd
— Manasseh Azure Awuni (@Manasseh_Azure) October 10, 2024
