The outcome of the election held at the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs on the 16th day of September 2024 was celebrated not only at the venue of the polls.
The celebration also took over the WhatsApp platform of paramount chiefs in the region as it continued in many places deep into the night.
The Paramount Chief of Chiana, Pe Ditundini Adiali Ayagitam III, had been re-elected as the president of the house by 19 votes.
He defeated his sole contender, the Paramount Chief of Bongo, Naba Baba Salifu Atamale Lemyaarum, who obtained 10 votes.
Among the members who posted their congratulatory messages on that WhatsApp platform was the Paramount Chief of Talensi, Tongraan Kugbilsong Nanlebegtang, who did not vie for any position but took part in the voting.
“Congratulations to all who won the vote today and to those who lost should take heart for better luck next time. May God and our ancestors be with you all. Thank you all, TONGRAAN,” he wrote.
The Paramount Chief of Katiu, Pe Ayikodie Zangwio Atoge IV, who ran for vice-president but lost to the incumbent vice-president and Paramount Chief of Mirigu, Naba Abisa Anonsona Anthony III, congratulated the winners on that platform, too.
The region’s youngest paramount chief composed: “Thanks so much to all for your support and votes and congratulations to all winners, especially Mirigu Naba. Well done.”
Two chiefs file case in court for injunction against election
But there was an unexpected turn of events about two weeks later.
While the Paramount Chief of Chiana was still cheerfully acknowledging compliments from his sympathisers on his victory as president-elect, he received a writ of summons from a high court in the region’s capital, Bolgatanga.
Two chiefs— the Tongraan (mentioned earlier) and the Paramount Chief of Sandema, Nab Azagsuk Azantilow II— had filed a case at the court against him and the registrar of the house on the election.
The duo claimed the election was held in breach of “the known and settled practice” of the house and asked the court to declare it “null and void and of no legal effect” and set it aside.
They also asked for an interlocutory injunction restraining the paramount chief from holding himself out as the president-elect of the house and restraining the registrar from submitting the result of “the said election” to the National House of Chiefs until “the final determination of this action.”
Further to the above, the plaintiffs (the two paramount chiefs) requested a permanent injunction restraining the two defendants (the Paramount Chief of Chiana and the registrar) from using their offices to “unilaterally” change the “known and settled practice” of electing a regional president who, on account of his election as regional president, automatically also represents the house at the national level.
The “known and settled practice” of the house
What the two plaintiffs mean by “known and settled practice” of the house is explained in their statement of claim.
They said after the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs was created in 1983 out of the Upper Regional House of Chiefs, which included an area known today as the Upper West region, the Paramount Chief of Navrongo at the time, Pe (Dr.) A.B. Addah, became the president of the new house. He served in that position from 1983 to 1986.
Then came the Paramount Chief of Chiana at the time, Pe Roland Adiali Ayagitam, who, according to the plaintiffs, reigned from 1989 to 1990. They did not mention who had occupied the office between 1986 and 1989.
The Paramount Chief of Bolgatanga, Naba Martin Adongo Abilba III, took over the affairs of the house in 1991 and ended his tenure in the year Nelson Mandela’s presidency began in South Africa— 1994.
Next to occupy that office in 1995 was the Paramount Chief of Paga, Pe Charles Awiah Awampaga II. He ended his tenure in 1998 and continued as president for another term until 2001.
He was succeeded by the Paramount Chief of Bawku, Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, who presided over the house between 2001 and 2004.
The plaintiffs said things changed in 2004 when the standing committee of the house unanimously resolved that all the members of the house be put into three groups and the president of the house thenceforth selected through a rotational system from among the three groups in turn.
That is what the plaintiffs mean by the term “known and settled practice” of the house.
How the new practice fared
The first group, according to the plaintiffs, comprises paramount chiefs found in the eastern and Frafra areas of the region. These areas are Bawku, Nangodi, Sakote, Tongo, Bongo and Bolgatanga.
The second group consists of the paramount chiefs in the central part of the region. They include Kologo, Naaga, Navrongo, Sirigu and Mirigu.
The third group, involving paramount chiefs in the western zone of the region, covers Paga, Sandema, Chiana, Kayoro, Katiu and Nakong.
The new practice demanded that whenever it was time for a group to take its turn, it would vote and select one of its members as the president of the house, and the president automatically would be the representative of the house at the National House of Chiefs.
The plaintiffs said the new convention started with Group Two choosing the Paramount Chief of Kologo, Naba Simon Ayindana Asobayire, as the president of the house from 2004 to 2008, and the Paramount Chief of Sakote, Naba Sigri Bewong from Group One, served as vice president.
Subsequently, Group Three chose the Paramount Chief of Paga, Pe Charles Awiah Awampaga II, as president. He served from 2009 to 2012 with the Paramount Chief of Naaga, Naba Olando Ayamga Awini III from Group Two, as vice president.
From 2012 to 2016, the Paramount Chief of Sakote, Naba Sigri Bewong, chosen from Group One, presided over the house. The Paramount Chief of Chiana, Pe Ditundini Adiali Ayagitam III from Group Three, served as vice president during that period.
The Paramount Chief of Naaga, Naba Olando Ayamga Awini III, took over in 2016, occupying the office until 2020, with the Paramount Chief of Bongo, Naba Baba Salifu Atamale Lemyaarum from Group One, as vice president.
The plaintiffs said as the rotational system continued, the Paramount Chief of Chiana, Pe Ditundini Adiali Ayagitam III from Group Three, became president in 2020, serving until 2024 with the Paramount Chief of Mirigu, Naba Abisa Anonsona Anthony III from Group Two, as vice president.
Alleged deadlock in the house
According to the plaintiffs, the Paramount Chief of Chiana (a member of Group Three) declined to step down for Group One to choose the next president of the house after his tenure ended this year.
They claimed he caused the house to hold a meeting on July 5, 2024, where he reportedly sought to replace the rotational system with a general election process and asked for the views of the members of the house on it.
A report compiled by the standing committee of the house, they said, stated that the house did not reach any consensus or conclusion on the matter.
The house reportedly agreed to hold further discussions on the matter. But the paramount chief, according to the plaintiffs, unilaterally declared the position of the president vacant and opened nominations for any interested members to secure forms.
They said he went further by instructing the registrar to schedule August 19 to August 24, 2024, for acquisition of forms, August 29, 2024, for filing of forms and September 6, 2024, for vetting of aspirants.
They stated that the registrar subsequently caused officials of the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct an election that saw the paramount chief declared president-elect of the house.
Allowing the election to stay, according to the plaintiffs, would “endanger the peace and unity of the house in particular and the Upper East region as a whole since the subjects of Group One are planning to resist any attempt to deny their chief his right to be the president of the house.”
Rotational system was abolished in 2022— Group tells plaintiffs
On Sunday, 13 October 2024, the Northern Forum for Peace and Development (NOFPED) convened a news conference in Bolgatanga where it said the rotational system was reviewed in 2022 and abolished the same year.
Contrary to the claim made by the plaintiffs that the rotational system was adopted in 2004, the pressure group said it was adopted in 2001 and affirmed that the idea was not prescribed by the Chieftaincy Act hence its review and abolition 21 years later.
“It is on record that in 2001 some members of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs agreed on the rotational system and as a matter of fact the presidency was rotated among the groupings in the house.
“After each of the groupings had taken its turn twice, the rotational system was reviewed in 2022, it subsequently came to end and the house returned to the electoral system enshrined in the Chieftaincy Act,” NOFPED told journalists at the conference.
The group said it found the actions of some members of the house disturbing and called on the Upper East Regional Peace Council to quickly address the development “to avoid any ethnic-based conflict in the region.”
“The pace being set by some members of the house, if not checked and checked now, their actions could put the whole Upper East into a protracted conflict at the House of the Chiefs, which may find expression at the community level.
“We, the leaders and members of NOFPED, through you the media humbly request that prominent chiefs like the Bawku Naba, Navro Pio, Naaga Naba, Nangod Nab and Sakot Nab should address the pressing issue in order to prevent it from escalating. A case won or lost in court is never the best solution in a traditional home,” the group said.
“Finally, we wish to draw the attention of the Upper East Regional Peace Council to hurriedly address the issue to avoid any ethnic-based conflict in the region,” it added.
Another statement reportedly signed and issued by five paramount chiefs— from Chiana, Mirigu, Naaga, Nangodi and Navrongo— surfaced on Monday, 14 October 2024.
The statement stressed that the election was legitimate and fair, and urged the plaintiffs to “respect the will of the house and the democratic principles that guided this election.”
The court is scheduled to sit this Thursday on an injunction application filed by the plaintiffs against the swearing-in ceremony of the president-elect.
The president-elect has not filed any statement of defence in court yet against the plaintiffs’ statement of claim. But public opinion is overwhelmingly favourable to him.
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana
