The family of the late Oheneba Yao Boateng has given the paramount chief of the New Juaben traditional area a 14-day ultimatum to replace a statue he demolished at the Prince Boateng Roundabout in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional Capital.

Daasebre Prof. Oti Boateng together with the New Juaben traditional council called for the bust, which was erected in honour of Oheneba Emmanuel Prince Yao Boateng, to be pulled down on March,19.

According to the Traditional council, the statue was erected by children of the late royal without the permission of Daasebre Prof. Emeritus Oti Boateng - Omanhene of New Juaben Traditional Council.

The Council described the action by the family as gross disrespect to the Yiadom Hwedie stool and the statue as an "offensive and dirty trick."

They said the decision to forcibly pull down the statue was necessitated by failure by the children of the late Oheneba Yao Boateng to remove the statue having promised and apologized when summoned to the palace on February 5, 2021, by the traditional council.

However, in a letter to the traditional council and copied the paramount and the New Juaben South municipal assembly, Osafo Adu-Amankwah, solicitors for the family described the move as illegal.

"Your destruction of the bust and your subsequent press release explaining your reasons for the above-mentioned destruction is absolutely illegal even if the bust is offensive to you.

"If an Assembly grants a permit for physical development and same is carried out, if there are issues that call for destruction or demolishing, there are laid down procedures by the law that one ought to follow which your office should be aware of," part of the letter read.

The letter stated that the council erred by destroying the bust, because according to them, all public spaces and naming are vested by law in Municipal District Assemblies (MMDAs) and not the traditional council. 

"The question in issue is not the lineage of the late Oheneba Yao Boateng or his progeny, their rights and responsibility within the Yiadom-Hwedie royal family, the issue has to do with the naming of a landmark on a public space, physical development in a specific area and the authority that regulates these matters."

"To the above issues, all public spaces and naming are vested by law in Municipal District Assemblies (MMDAs), in this instance the New Juaben South Municipal Assembly. Again, regulating physical planning and development within any district is solely the mandate of District Assemblies (New Juaben South Municipal Assembly), therefore, it is entirely misplaced and a lack of understanding of the law to suggest that the New Juaben Traditional Council ought to have been consulted and same granting permission before such a physical development can be undertaken since they have no such powers under the law," the letter stated.