The Ga Mantse, Dr. Jo Blankson has the stool name Nii Tackie Tawiah III
By William Yaw Owusu
Saturday, March 20, 2010
The no-love-lost between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government and the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Tawiah III appears not to be ending anytime soon as the King dismisses calls for him to render an apology to President John Evans Atta Mills.
King Tackie Tawiah recently expressed his anger at the way and manner in which the NDC government had neglected him and not inviting him to officials functions and had said among other things that Gas were not fools to be treated this way by a sitting government.
The government insists that once the Ga Mantse does not have his name in the national register of chiefs, he was not going to be recognized until the numerous disputes surrounding his enstoolment were finally resolved.
Since Nii Tackie Tawiah’s outburst, leading NDC government officials including the new envoy to the Czech Republic Victor Smith have asked the king to apologise to President Mills without any delay but yesterday at a news conference in the Ga Mantse Palace in Accra, Nii Boi Abbey, the Chief of Staff of the king dismissed the calls and said “what our king said was a protest and not an insult to anybody”.
The news conference had been called by the Ga Traditional Council to lend what it calls its ‘unflinching’ support to the Ga Mantse and Nii Tetteh Kwei, Dzaasetse of the Ga stool in these trying moments.
The Ga Mantse was not present at the news conference but all the other sub-chiefs and queens clad in all red to signify the seriousness of the situation were present.
Nii Boi Abbey said “the statement made by our king was taken out of context by the media. He raised important issues which were unattended to by the media and only concentrated on the portion of his complaints which sought to call on the authorities to see to the welfare of the Ga people as is being done to all others.”
“We are not given the opportunity to get to the ear of the President. We have made several diplomatic efforts to reach the presidency but some people surrounding the President have prevented us”.
He said “what out king said was a protest and not an insult,” adding “can you imagine the government making efforts to commence the Gold Coast City project using one chief to sign the documents without ant consultation to the Ga Traditional council?”
Nii Boi Abbey reiterated the king makers followed all the necessary customary procedures before installing the Dr. Jo Blankson as the Ga Mantse with the stool name Mantse Tackie Tawiah III.
Nii Tetteh Kwei III, the Dzaasetse of the Ga Stool who read the statement signed by Nii Dodoo Nsaki II, Otublohum Mantse said the council is expressing its regret at the way in which Ga lands had been allocated to people by governments without any recourse to them.
“The Ga Traditional Council calls on the government to put a stop to the continuing indiscriminate allocation of Ga lands to individuals for commercial gain while the Ga people whose heritage these lands are, stand deprived of their birthright in the land of their forefathers”.
“This in total disregard to the convention of returning lands to their original and custodial owners. It is unacceptable that lands acquired by the government for public use eventually ends up with private investors without any form of consultation with the council.
He further expressed concern about the way the media has been treating issues concerning the Ga Stool and advised media organizations to “crosscheck all matters concerning chieftaincy in the Ga State with the Ga Traditional Council.”
He reiterated the council’s “unconditional support” for the Ga Mantse and the Dzaasetse and regretted what he called “the growing disregard of the government for the customs and traditions of the Ga people, even as the Ga state hosts the nation’s capital and the seat of the Presidency.”
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