The queen makers of the royal Boahenkorkor family have been urged to ensure there is honesty and fairness devoid of corrupt acts in the selection process for a successor for the late queen of the Sunyani Traditional Area. 

Paramount chief of Dwenem Traditional Area, Nana Bofo Bene IV, says it will ensure peace and protect the integrity of the traditional institution.

He was the guest speaker at the second Annual Nana Yaa Nyamaa II Memorial Peace lecture, organised by the Bono Regional Peace Council in Sunyani. 

The peace lecture, attended by religious leaders, youth groups, royal Boahenkorkor family, etc., was under the theme, “Safeguarding the Integrity of our Chieftaincy Institutions for Sustainable Peace; The role of QueenMothers”.

A successor is yet to be named two years after the death of the paramount queen of the Sunyani Traditional Area, Nana Yaa Nyamaa II.

Nana Bofo Bene IV told the queen selectors to do extensive consultations that will lead to the selection of the right person and be accepted by the stakeholders of the royal family.

He urged them to guide against taking unilateral decisions and the tendency to favour some individuals in the process for personal gains.

“Make sure the person selected is from the right lineage in the royal family because the stool belongs to a few people in a royal family.

"Bribery and corruption have permeated the chieftaincy institution to the extent that even if you are the rightful heir to a stool and you have no money, you could lose the seat to a non-royal,” he said.

The Paramount chief of Dwenem Traditional Area, Nana Bofo Bene IV, also said the traditional institution is losing its integrity due to the fraudulent manner of seeking a visa for people when some chiefs and queens travel outside the country.

He said that is the challenge they have now with the Ministry of Foreign affairs and some consulates that have dented the chieftaincy institutions' revered image. 

He also attributed most of the chieftaincy litigations to some chiefs aligning themselves with political parties.

On his part, the paramount chief of Drobo Traditional Area and vice president of the Bono

Regional house of chiefs, Okokyeredom Saakyi Ako II, described the late Nana Yaa Nyamaa II as a living legend who is remembered for her warmth, humility, and simplicity, which affected the lives of many people in and around Sunyani.

He believes queen mothers of today could play a catalytic role in achieving transformational, economic, environmental, and social changes required for sustainable development if they could emulate the shining roles played by the late queen-mother.

Okokyeredom Saakyi Ako II, however, bemoaned the breakdown of the society’s moral fibre but believes the country could prosper, in the future, if we revisit most of our traditional ways of doing things.

The Bono Regional Peace Council chairman, Rev. Fr. William Kyere, noted that the council instituted the Nana Yaa Nyamaa II Memorial Peace Lecture because of her extraordinary leadership qualities and work in the field of peace and development in the region.

He said traditional and chieftaincy institutions complement the modern governance system regarding peace and development.

He, therefore, said chiefs must work hard to restore the institution's integrity which has been on the low due to a myriad of factors, including lack of harmony and cooperation between queen mothers and kingmakers in the nomination, selection, and installation of new chiefs, and protracted chieftaincy disputes. 

Rev. Fr. William Kyere noted these have the potency for violence and, therefore, calls for urgent action to restore public trust to sustain the peace of the region and country at large.

He recommended that the capacities of queen mothers be enhanced and resourced to enable them to effectively use the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism in conflict management.

He also appealed to the Regional House of Chiefs to consider co-opting the women leaders in the house to serve on arbitration and mediation committees, if for some reason, they cannot be admitted as members.