The paramount chief of Asante Asokore and board member of the national Peace Council says it is worrying that the country is still faced with the challenges of settling chieftaincy disputes.

S. K. B Asante aka Nana Susubribri Krobea speaking on JoyNews’ Personality Profile on Friday, attributed political involvement as a cause to several chieftaincy dispute in the country.

The influence of political leaders in chieftaincy issues, according to him, disrupt peace and stability in a community.

“The proliferation of chieftaincy dispute to disturb the peace is a matter of concern to us, however, sometimes there are certain factors which inflame the dispute. One is political involvement.

“During my lifetime I have seen chiefs disposed off because they belong to one particular political party in those days and others reinstated because they belong to some political party. So the involvement of politics in chieftaincy perpetrate chieftaincy dispute,” he told host Ayisha Ibrahim.

Chieftaincy disputes have stalled development in various communities in the country. It also has resulted in violent clashes in some parts of the country.

Government has sought various interventions to address the matter, including a recent decision by President Akufo-Addo to increase the number of judicial committees and regional house sittings to hasten the adjudication of outstanding disputes.

However, the astute lawyer indicated that the involvement of the high court in an attempt to resolve any substantial issues sometimes ends up complicating matters.

Explaining this, Nana Susubribri Krobea mentioned that the high court has no jurisdiction to settle chieftaincy dispute.

“If you look at practice you will see that something which should proceed from the traditional council has been complicated because there has been a reference to a High Court. The court does not intervene and try to resolve it in a way which is not appropriate,” he said.

What the court can do, he said, is to supervise local authorities through prerogative press over inferior adjudicating bodies including judicial committee.