Traditional rulers in Ga East in the Greater Accra Region, deeply concerned about the spate of indiscipline in the country, last Saturday held a forum to brainstorm on how best to reduce or curb the canker.
Speaking at a forum at the Presbyterian Women’s Centre, Abokobi, organised by the Ga East Chiefs Association (GECA), Justice S.A Brobbey, retired justice of the Supreme Court, noted that the Ghanaian society is plagued with all sorts of indiscipline.
He pointed out that the chieftaincy institution is rooted in the family and so anybody outside the family should not show his face at all when it comes to the nomination of a person for enstoolment or enskinment as chief.
According to Justice Brobbey, making someone a chief when that person does not qualify to occupy that particular stool or skin amounts to indiscipline.
Making reference to the Chieftaincy Act 2008, the retired Supreme Court judge said it is an offence and an act of indiscipline if a person performs the functions of a chief when he is not qualified to do so.
He said deliberately insulting or showing disrespect to a chief – no matter the offence that chief might have committed – is also an offence punishable by an imprisonment term of three months or to a fine or both.
Justice Brobbey outlined a catalogue of acts that constitute offence/indiscipline in the society. Among them are refusing to participate in communal labour organised by a chief, engaging in multiple sale of land, dealing in lands when a person is not entitled to and a chief insulting or quarreling with his subjects or replying to insults.
Giving the panacea for curbing indiscipline, he said although a traditional ruler who feels offended can resort to the law court for redress, “that is not the best option” stressing the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) – restorative justice. In this regard, Justice Brobbey asserted that disputes could be settled in a civil manner as compensation is paid to the offended party.
Concluding, Justice Brobbey emphasized that chiefs are custodians of customs and traditions and so they must be disciplined themselves.
Earlier in a welcome address, the chief of Abokobi and President of GECA, Nii Samuel Adjetey Mohenu, who explained that the event was also to round off the Homowo festival, urged his colleagues to ensure that discipline, peace and stability reign supreme in their areas of jurisdiction.
He appealed to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to collaborate with the Houses of Chiefs in finding solution to indiscipline in the society.
Professor Naa John S. Nabila, President of the National House of Chiefs who chaired the function, made it clear that “discipline is the bedrock of the chieftaincy institution because if a chief is not disciplined, he won’t be respected.”
He urged traditional rulers to involve the youth in most of their deliberations to ensure discipline.
“If there is discipline, the chieftaincy institution will endure forever,” he articulated.
