I wish to congratulate Otumfuo Osei Tutu II for the lovely and peace making comments that he made about the chieftaincy dispute between Manhyia and the Techiman Traditional Council in his speech at the Adekyem Festival in Bechem which appeared in the Daily Graphic issue on Friday 25th November, 2011. The forceful seizure of some villages from Techiman by Manhyia in the past resulted in breakdown of inter-marriages between Bonos and Ashantis, intra-marriages between rival factions and sent a lot of people to their graves because of clashes between rival chiefs either claiming allegiance to Manhyia or Techiman Traditional Council. This problem led to the separation of Bono chiefs from the Asanteman Council which was spearheaded by Nana Akumfi Ameyaw III of Techiman and Nana Agyeman Badu I of Dormaa Ahenkro which finally brought about the creation of the Brong Ahafo Region in 1959. This case has been handled in a lot of law courts, started from the Asante Chief Commissioner’s court, to the King’s Privy Council in London and a number of our current courts. The astonishing aspect about this case is that Manhyia has always been winning this litigation but the situation has persisted till date, the reason being that the stools in these villages are either children of the Ohene Ameyaw stool of Techiman or direct relatives of the Krontire stool of Techiman or other divisional chiefs in Techiman. It would therefore be very difficult to use a court order to send these indigenous Techiman citizens to Manhyia because it is socially, culturally and practically impossible. Normally in these villages people who feel they have been denied their right to these stools would team up with few family supporters and go to Manhyia to swear to Otumfuo as Chiefs of these villages. The counter claims of these stools by rival chiefs loyal to Manhyia and Techiman Traditional Council, have resulted in several intra-lineage clashes which had normally forced the Manhyia loyal claimants-chiefs to take up residence in Kumasi because of lack of support in their villages. From the foregoing, it is very clear that Politics, Government or Law Courts cannot solve this problem except the people themselves led by their leaders Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and Oseadeeyo Akumfi IV. In the midst of that situation, Politicians tend to meddle, take sides or seemingly foment troubles between Otumfuo and Techimanhene. Therefore if Otumfuo has promised amicable settlement of this case, it is highly commendable because it will bring to an end the fractious relationship between Manhyia and the Techiman Traditional Council and bring peace to these sub villages of Techiman. The peaceful resolution of this case is also important because real development cannot happen in an environment where there is no peaceful co-existence, tolerance and unconditional forgiveness of past actions. I therefore congratulate Otumfuo Osei Tutu II on his good pronouncements about the need to bring about amicable resolutions of these contentious issues between Manhyia and the Techiman Traditional Council. It will be another great achievement in a series of initiatives that this great King has put in place since his ascension to the throne. May God grant him long life and wisdom to help solve most of the controversial cases in Ghana. Otumfuo Ayekooo! King Solomon Ayekooo! By Nana Opoku Fosu Gyeabuor II Manwerehene of Techiman