The government has pledged its commitment to work closely with chiefs and other traditional leaders to promote peace and development across the country.

The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, who stated this, said the government would provide the needed resources to the judicial committees of the national and regional houses of chiefs as well as traditional councils, to resolve chieftaincy, land and other disputes at the traditional levels to ensure peace and security in the country.

Addressing members of the National House of Chiefs (NHC) at its first meeting of the year in Kumasi, the Minister pointed out that the government was deeply worried about the many disputes which had bedevilled the chieftaincy institution and were threatening the peace and security of the country.

The government would, therefore, work closely and provide the requisite resources to the NHC, regional houses of chiefs and the various traditional councils to resolve these disputes to help promote peace and development in all parts of the country.

Mr Ibrahim said the Ministry would work in partnership with traditional authorities to bring the needed development to the people.

The government would also work to amend the Chieftaincy Act 2008 (Act 759) to bring back the power of chiefs to summon people before their traditional councils.

This, according to the Minister, would grant chiefs the power to hear and resolve some local issues, such as galamsey, land litigation and others, in their traditional courts.

The government was also considering reviewing the allowances and pay chiefs living allowances that would make them comfortable in the discharge of their traditional functions.

The Ministry would further work to ensure closer working relations between the district assemblies and traditional councils to foster development and improve the living conditions of the people.

Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi II, President of the NHC, pointed out that today’s Ghanaian chieftaincy institution was not only a custodian of lands, traditions and culture and an embodiment of traditional wisdom, but it was also a consortium of modern professional, academic, leadership and governance expertise.

The institution had successful business people, lawyers, judges, surveyors, engineers, medical doctors and others in its fold.

He called on the government to tap into this pool of knowledge and expertise by appointing qualified chiefs to serve on boards, where their knowledge, leadership experiences and expertise would be needed to enable them to contribute to the nation building.

He pledged the support of the chieftaincy institution to the government in its strategies to combat the galamsey menace that was affecting the country.

Ogyeahoho Gyebi said the galamsey menace had grown in a scale and had become a complex phenomenon and that any attempt at addressing it must be well thought out and effective.

He said the chiefs were deeply concerned about the effects of galamsey and would work with the government to address it.