Some members of the Teshie Traditional Council of Elders have reacted strongly to the chieftaincy crisis in the area insisting that there is no chief in the area and that anyone who claims to be a chief should be disregarded.
At a press conference held on Thursday, May 25, 2023, they chastised the Greater Accra Regional Minister, the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs as well as the Registrar of the Greater Accra Regional House of chiefs for their alleged roles in the brewing chieftaincy crisis in Teshie.
The statement read by the Secretary and Council of Elders, Paul Akpoj Sowah called on the accused persons to come clean and set the records straight over their alleged involvements in the Teshie chieftaincy situation.
Read the full statement below:
TESHIE COUNCIL OF ELDERS
P.O. BOX TN 1729
TEL: 0552507656, 0576153921
TESHIE NUNGUA ESTATE
ACCRA
25th May, 2023
ANOMALIES OF CHIEFTAINCY SITUATION IN TESHIE
Members of the press, we have invited you here to let the whole world know that, Teshie Chieftaincy problems are being manipulated by people from officialdom. Rumours have it in town that the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr. Henry Quartey, the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs and the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs Registrar, Mr. Enoch Addo, these two persons together with the Chieftaincy Ministry are trying to plant an unqualified person on the people of Teshie. Why are we saying that, the Regional Minister, Mr. Henry Quartey’s position is not very certain but we have captured his name in this program because we know he has recognized the so called Teshie Mantse because he holds a gazette. We will be grateful if he will react in whatever way he deems fit against this allegation.
In the case of the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, they have been deceived into believing that they could establish a Traditional Council in Teshie and rumours has it that some officials from the Ministry have come to Teshie to inspect an abandoned building, specifically Harbin Restaurant in a bush and as we speak if we don’t protest against this issue, Teshie Traditional Council will be inaugurated for some people we can describe as mercenaries. The Ministry has also been told and we think they believe same that Teshie Chieftaincy Matters at the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs and the National House of Chiefs have been settled and done with. Mr. Enoch Addo should come out and tell the whole world that there is no case at his office where the so called Teshie Mantse, Gbetsoolo Nii Ashitey Akomfra III is been challenged and that if Gbetsoolo Nii Ashitey Akomfra III and his people have not petitioned the National House of Chiefs against a ruling delivered by the Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs.
Members of the press, on the 6th of May, 2023 at a funeral of a wealthy daughter of the town, Nii Ashikwei Kwaobotswe was quoted as saying that the Teshie Chieftaincy matters are done with and there is no case at the Regional House of Chiefs, Dodowa nor at the National House of Chiefs Kumasi, against Gbetsoolo Nii Ashitey Akomfra III. Meanwhile, it is Nii Kwaobotswe and his people who appealed to the National House of Chiefs against the ruling given by the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs. In actual fact the appeal they sent to the National House of Chiefs Kumasi, is still pending.
On the news that the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs is preparing to come and inaugurate a Traditional Council in Teshie, we wrote to them and gave them the details as to whatever is happening about chieftaincy situations in Teshie.
Members of the press, if the Regional Minister, Mr. Henry Quartey recognizes somebody with a gazette, what will he say when an Atofotser for Teshie who was installed in 1997 and whose name is in the Register of Chiefs and whose name has been published in the Chieftaincy Bulletin since 2009 and who is alive as we speak now is been pushed aside and a new Atofotser been appointed by Gbetsoolo Nii Ashitey Akomfra III and his people. It will interest you to know that a fact finding committee that was instituted by the then Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Dr. Seidu Danaa completed its work in 2018 and produced a report which suggested that Mr. Samuel Ashitei Ahulu be installed as Chief of Teshie. The Registrar Mr. Samuel Yeboah Menkah of the Regional House of Chiefs who was part of the Fact Finding Mission signed the report with the chiefs that sat on the panel. This report was submitted to the Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs at that particular time. Mr. Kofi Dzamesi, the Minister wrote two letters;
1. Acknowledgements of the receipt of the report
2. Recommended that Mr. Samuel Ashitei Ahulu should go through the rituals and be made the chief of Teshie.
The registrar Mr. Samuel Yeboah Menkah who compiled and signed the report was transferred from the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs and in his place Mr. Enoch Addo was brought in as the new Registrar. Before the report will come out from the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs a different report that had no signatures of the chiefs who worked on that panel neither was the signature of the Registrar. Mr. Enoch Addo who had been brought in as a new Registrar who knew nothing about the committee’s operations and their report, prepared a report which we could describe as forged report. This forged report has no signatures of the chiefs that sat on the case. The new registrar, Mr. Enoch Addo who prepared the forged report wrote Mr. Samuel Yeboah Menkah’s name even though he did not know anything about the forged report. One of the chiefs, Nene Asture Benta III who was part of the panel that did the Fact Finding job had been assassinated but his name appeared in the forged report all though he was dead. That forged report was what was presented to Teshie people on the 9th July 2019 by the then President of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, Nii Okwei Kinka Dowouna VI. In that forged report a strange name, Mr. Theophilus Armah Ashai (Gbetsoolo Nii Ashitey Akomfra III) has been inserted in place of Mr. Samuel Ashitei Ahulu.
Members of the press, after this forged report and because Mr. Theophilus Armah Ashai’s name appeared, the Registrar, Mr. Enoch Addo supervised the induction of Mr. Theophilus Armah Ashai into the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs as Teshie Manste, even though the accredited King Makers of Teshie have not performed any single ritual as demanded by Custom and Tradition of Teshie people. As we speak now you will be surprised to hear that Mr. Theophilus Armah Ashai (Gbetsoolo Nii Ashitey Akomfra III) is sitting in a Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, trying a case between two parties from Sege Town in the Greater Accra Region whilst a writ filed against him in 2019, challenging his position at the Regional House of Chiefs is still pending.
Members of the press, it will again interest you to know that the vacation and enstoolment form that were filled with respect of Mr. Theophilus Armah Ashai which gave him the gazette they are boosting with was filled and signed at OSU and not Teshie. Can that make him a chief of Teshie? The general public should answer this. And should he be allowed to continue to hold himself as Teshie Mantse? And should he supervise a Traditional Council as Teshie Mantse where he has not sworn any oath to anybody in Teshie.
As we speak now there is a letter from the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs condemning any publication of an installation of a Teshie Mantse. The House in that letter written on 7th January, 2015 described that announcement of an installation of Teshie Mantse as ILLEGAL. . In that same letter, one Mr. Benjamin Nmai Sam-Sowah alias Tsetsetser Nii Kludin Okang Nmashie VI, Theophilus Armah alias Nii Ashikwei Kwao Botswe II were all described as self-style Mankralo and Dzaasetser respectively. This letter was addressed to the Chairman, Regional Security Council, Regional Co-ordinating Council and they instructed the Ghana Police Service to halt every process of such outdooring of the so called installation that was done by the self-styled Mankralo and Dzaasetser. This letter can be made available to anybody who is interested.
Thank you for honouring our invitation.
Signed by:
Mr. Paul Akpor Sowah
Secretary