A research undertaken by the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) has found that politicians are unwilling to give chiefs the space and opportunity to participate in the democratic governance of the country. Another finding is that the chieftaincy institution, as one of the governance institutions mentioned in the Constitution, is not adapting to change in line with current democratic principles. Ironically, however, chiefs are actively engaged by the political elite during political electioneering campaigns, when lands are needed for development and when people need to be mobilised for developmental activities. These and several other issues are contained in the report that came out of the research. The report entitled, Ghana Traditional Authorities in Governance and Development, sought to find out the role of chiefs in the democratic dispensation of the country, how in tune chiefs themselves were to their roles and responsibilities in the democratic era and processes for the institution to optimise their relevance in the current order. At the launch of the report in Accra, there was a lively debate amongst, participants, invited guests, speakers, and representatives of IDEG on the role of chiefs and perceptions about these roles. President of the National House of Chiefs, Naa Pro. John S. Nabila, in his introductory remarks said chieftaincy predated colonial rule with the roles of chiefs evolving with time. While emphasising the roles chiefs have played for the progress of their people, he claimed that the strength and stability of the chieftaincy institutions was in its elaborate processes of ascension, which had stood the test of time. But the author of the report, Prof. Kwame Ninsin, who is also the Scholar in Residence of IDEG, in his remarks on the publication said surveys on registrars and some members of traditional councils, the regional and national house of chiefs showed that the chieftaincy institution as one of the organs of governance was not adapting to change as current democratic tenets demanded. He raised issues about the accountability of the institution and how transparent and open processes of succession were. There were also issues about the several chieftaincy disputes that limited the institution as a preferred solution provider to developmental challenges. A former chairman of the National Commission on Culture, Prof. George Hagan, took the opportunity to present some thoughts on what the role of chiefs should be in the current democratic dispensation of the country. He was of the view that subsuming chiefs in modern democratic structures would make them lose their intrinsic nature as a parallel force of governance able to demand accountability from national governments, and as citizens, also demand from their governments their due. Participants wanted the research to be expanded to gather the views of community members on the chieftaincy institution. Others, particularly the youth, said they did not see the relevance of chiefs in the current political dispensation. Paramount Chief of the Esikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia decried the cultural illiteracy that was bedevilling Ghanaians. He said arguments that chiefs had no role to play currently were borne out of an intellectual deficit of one's history. He also criticised constitutional provision of democracy and modernity that had no relevance in people's cultural settings but borrowed foreign terminologies and emphasised that these arguments would continue if Ghanaians did not go back to their foots.