President John Mahama on Monday held a meeting with the Members of the Steering Committee of the National House of Chiefs to enable him to update them on several developments in the country. 

The meeting, which was at the instant of the President would also allow him to tap into the wisdom of the Members of the National House of Chiefs. 

President Mahama said it was important for him to invite the Members of the Steering Committee of the House because he had received a lot of requests from various traditional areas and houses of chiefs, to pay courtesy and congratulatory visits to him. 

He said he deemed it appropriate for the National House of Chiefs itself to be the first to call on the President before they received the requests from the regions and other traditional areas for their courtesy visits. 

He explained that the meeting was taking place at the Accra International Conference Centre because the office of the President was currently undergoing renovation. 

The President expressed his gratitude to the chiefs for their warm welcome into their palaces during the Election 2024 campaign. 

He further acknowledged their respective roles in welcoming his team and giving them good counsel on how to conduct their campaigns and ensure that the election was held in a peaceful atmosphere. 

“I think all that contributed to the successful election we had. We must thank all of you and the Almighty God for once again seeing Ghana through a successful election and I think that the way the whole world celebrated Ghana for the peaceful transition, has added one more accolade in our caps as the beacon of democracy in Africa and it is something that we must all take a pride in,” he said. 

President Mahama said it was his intention to hold regular dialogues on many issues of importance, not only to the Chieftaincy Institution but also on the progress of the nation. 

Some of the key issues discussed at the meeting included chieftaincy disputes, which had become one of the major issues on the agenda of national security.   

President Mahama noted that anytime a chief passed away and a new chief had to be selected invariably two rival chiefs, or three rival chiefs would suddenly appear, and this was becoming a worrying issue affecting national development.  

In the 1992 constitution it was decided from the unpleasant experiences of the past where government used to interfere in Chieftaincy matters, to leave such issues completely to the chiefs themselves that is the National House of Chiefs and the Regional Houses of Chiefs, the President said. 

Notwithstanding, there was the need for these traditional authorities to work with the government to ensure law, order and peace during such occasions as enstoolments or enskinments of new chiefs, he said. 

He referred to a previous state decision for a codification of the lines of succession; saying “I don’t know how far that project has gone but it looks like the issue of disputes is becoming even worse by the day and urged the Committee to critically look at that. 

He said the Government intended to hold a Constitutional Review Validation conference where the intention would be to look at the works done by the Fiadjoe Constitutional Review Committee’s report, which was the initial work commissioned by President John Evans Atta Mills and that of the Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu’s Committee under the commission of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. 

He said they would put all the reports on the table, to see what was still relevant in terms of amending the Constitution.  

Nana Daasebre Osei Bonsu II, the Mamponghene, on behalf of the National House of Chiefs, congratulated President Mahama on his ascension to the Presidency. 

He expressed the National House of Chiefs’ concern about the Government’s decision to realign the Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Ministry with the Local Government Ministry and said that he only heard of it through the media.