Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia and presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has assured traditional leaders that his government will pay living allowances to paramount chiefs and queen mothers.
That, he believed, will enable the chiefs to get adequate resources to perform their responsibilities effectively.
The NPP presidential candidate gave the assurance in Dodowa during a meeting with the Greater Accra Region House of Chiefs, as part of his nationwide tour to solicit input from key stakeholders into the 2024 Election of the NPP.
Bawumia said chiefs could not be tasked with responsibilities without resourcing them, therefore, paying them living allowances was very necessary.
“To be able to get the chieftaincy institution to really play its proper roles financially, the institution has to be resourced,” he said, noting “You can’t give them responsibilities without resourcing them”.
“So, the recommendation that has come which we will put in the Manifesto is to make sure that we pay living wages to the chieftaincy institution.
“Currently, a paramount chief receives GHC1,001,000 a month and even to attend a meeting, it might not be enough for petrol.
“There is no payment for the queen mothers and divisional chiefs and so, we need to pay living allowances to the paramount chiefs, divisional chiefs and to the queen mothers,” Dr Bawumia stressed.
The NPP presidential also pledged his government’s commitment to codify the lines of succession of the chieftaincy institutions.
To achieve this goal, Bawumia said, he would resource and empower the Judiciary Councils of the House of Chiefs to perform that task.
That, he said, would help curb the protracted chieftaincy litigations that characterised the rightful person to be a chief in a particular traditional area.
The vice-president promised to amend the Chieftaincy Act to empower chiefs to enforce discipline in their various jurisdictions effectively.
According to him, there was lack of discipline in many societies due to the limited powers granted to chiefs regarding summoning someone to the palace.
“So, I am proposing an amendment of Section 63D of the Chieftaincy Act and this is what my Manifesto Committee is recommending to give more powers back to the chiefs,” he stated.
Dr Bawumia was optimistic that the proposal would enable chiefs to resolve disputes within their communities swiftly to reduce the backlog of cases in the courts.
