Bizarre incidents that can only take place in Ghana continue to occur to amuse, surprise or annoy us – depending on where we have decided to pitch our socio-political tent.
The ink had hardly dried on my narration of the goat-prohibition edict at Berekum when I read on the Internet that there had been an actual court case about a decision by some of the “king-makers in a traditional area to deny a left-handed man (known as “leftee”) a traditional position to which he aspired. According to his opponents, local custom prevented left-handed persons from occupying the position “leftee” sought to occupy.
You’ve guessed right – yes, acquisition of property was involved. There’s hardly a “stool” or “skin” in Ghana which does not come with a good deal of property – usually land. So chieftaincy is the source of hundreds or even thousands of disputes, some of which are argued on the basis of alleged customs and traditions that mock common sense.
Indeed, bizarre as the “leftee” court case was, it’s as nothing compared to a case which never made it to court (as far as I know) but which was quite sensationally canvassed on what at the time was known as “radio trottoir” [rumour mill]. A candidate for a big chiefly position (it was alleged) was not qualified to sit on the stool he sought, because he had circumcised his male organ as a youth (an occurrence that was abhorrent to the customs of the Akan area where he wanted to be chief).
Radio trottoir had further reported that upon realising that he might lose the stool, the candidate had travelled to Hollywood (in the United States) and had a new foreskin grafted to his male organ by an expert plastic surgeon!
So, when the “old women” of his family went to “inspect” the said organ (as the guy’s opponents had insisted should happen, in accordance with custom) they returned with a verdict that he wasn’t a circumcised man and that his foreskin was intact!
Would such a matter be brought to the desk of the Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs; Mr Asamoah Boateng, were a similar dispute arise today? I wouldn’t be surprised, for, as the Berekum goat-prohibition incident illustrates, conflict between our customs and traditions (on the one hand) and the modern constitutional niceties that underlie the legal system we have inherited from our erstwhile colonial masters (on the other) is only to be expected.
I would, however, advise Mr Asamoah-Boateng to pay less attention to such abstruse legal controversies than to the existential threat posed to our society – especially to our unborn progeny – by the problem posed by galamsey. In theory, no galamsey operation can take place on any land or in any water-body, without the approval of the chief of the area.
But no chief would admit that he had given approval for such a venture. The reason is that a noxious socio-political background cloaks galamsey operations. Everyone believes that even if a particular chief were to be disinclined to offer such an approval, there is so much ‘SUBTERRANEAN’ money and political influence behind galamsey operations that almost any chief would, if approached, almost always succumb to the combined financial and political pressure deployed behind the proposal.
Important party officials have been exposed by TV reporters as and when their agents have made forays into forest reserves to mine illegally for gold. Uniformed soldiers who are supposed only to take instructions from the government of the day, have been photographed assaulting reporters who had chanced upon a galamsey operation on an important river. The President of the country had pledged to place his presidency on the line, rather than see galamsey continue.
Yet galamsey had continued unabated, destroying such life-giving rivers as Tano, Ankobra, Offin, Densu and Birem.
What is to be done? I think a new Local Government Bill, jointly drafted by the Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, should be presented to Parliament, providing for the revival of the Asafo group or its equivalent in every area in Ghana that claims to have a chief.
The chief and his Asafo shall have the power to evict any galamsey operation that they find in their area. Such evictions shall occur in consultation with the local police, where the police are found to be co-operative and can be trusted. Where they cannot be trusted, a report of why this is so should be sent to the Minister of the Interior, in explanation of why a galamsey operation had been evicted from the area without the participation of the Police.
The bill shall be debated in public by Parliament and during the period it is under consideration, the media shall be encouraged to publicise its provisions widely.
Through such public education, a consensus will emerge that will convey the message to the galamsey kingpins that if they do not cease their activities forthwith, the entire country would be mobilised against them.
No power can resist the efforts of a populace that has decided to save itself from the machinations of a ruthless, selfish cabal that has shown by deeds that it does not want the Nation to survive.
BY CAMERON DUODU
