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Adaklu chiefs ostracise DCE

THE impasse between the chiefs of Adaklu and the District Chief Executive (DCE) of the area, Mr Phanuel Donkor Kadey, has deepened as the traditional rulers have announced their stance to withdraw their recognition for the DCE.

The Adaklu Traditional Council has directed the chiefs of all the communities to inform their people through the beating of the ‘gong-gong’ of the decision.

A statement signed by the Paramount Chief, Togbe Gbogbi Atsa V,  and  president of the Traditional Council, said that the chiefs shall no longer accord Mr Kadey the respect as DCE, and would, therefore, not engage him at any function of the traditional authorities.

He said that the decision by the chiefs was based on “the unscrupulous and unwarranted behaviour” of the DCE towards them.

Togbe Gbogbi Atsa V, recalled that recently the DCE caused the arrest of the chief and some elders of Adaklu-Wumenu in church because the youth erected an illegal speed ramp on the road.

The chiefs also accused the DCE of writing a letter falsely in the name of the Adaklu Traditional Authority to the government to stop an ongoing Spanish water project in the area and also made disparaging remarks about the chiefs, suggesting that they lacked reasoning power.

The statement recalled that during the mid-year meeting of the traditional council, an invitation was sent to the DCE to enable the chiefs discuss pertinent matters of the district with him, but he failed to turn up at the meeting without any official excuse and rather drove pass the venue while the meeting was in progress.

“This attitude we believe amounts to gross disrespect for the norms of the land”, the statement added.

Meanwhile, the DCE has denied the allegations levelled against him by the chiefs.

When contacted on Wednesday, Mr Kadey explained that that while he was travelling to Ho recently, upon reaching Adaklu-Wumenu, he realised that some young people in the community were erecting a speed ramp on the road, using unconventional materials.

“So, I stopped to tell them that what they were doing was rather dangerous to vehicular movement. They would not budge, and so I approached one of the elders to tell him that the ramp being erected by the youth was unlawful and then left”, he stated.

Mr Kadey said that no one was arrested as alleged.

On the Spanish water project, the DCE explained that the contract was signed on behalf of the government by the Volta Regional Minister, “so I have no authority whatsoever to stop that project”.

The DCE also touched on the invitation to the mid-year meeting of the traditional council, and said that the invitation never got to him.

A meeting arranged last month at Adaklu-Abuadi, the traditional capital, to iron out the differences between Adaklu chiefs and the DCE with the Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, as mediator, ended in a stalemate.

FROM ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, HO

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