STOP PARADING NII LATSE AS GA MANTSE

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday, November 07, 2016

Nii Tetteh Kwei II, the Ga Paramount Stool Dsase has said the kingmakers are taking ‘strong exception’ to what he claimed to be a ‘subtle’ attempt being employed by President John Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration to parade Nii Tackie Adama Latse II as the Ga Mantse at public functions.

In what looks like the never-ending Ga Mantse dispute, Nii Tetteh Kwei II alleged that since the NDC government came into power, it has been giving tacit support to people like Nii Latse II known in private life as George Tackie Abia to cause more divisions among the Ga people; complaining that the President and some of his ministers’posture towards chieftaincy issues in the Ga State is worrying.

He claimed in an exclusive interview with DAILY GUIDE that NDC ministers like the Greater Accra Regional Minister Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo were neck deep in using some people purported to be chiefs to foment trouble, alleging that the presidency has been endorsing such people instead of asking them to use the right channels to solve their problems.

He said Nii Latse II has been claiming to be the Ga Mantse since 2011 but the same person was now in court to secure an order of mandamus to get the Ga Tradional Council to admit him into their fold as their President.

“Just last week, the government paraded Nii Latse II at a public function as the Ga Mantse as captured in the state-owned media even though they know that the Ga Mantse position is still in dispute,” he said.

He said there were numerous suits and counter suits both in court and the houses of chiefs over the protracted Ga Mantse issue and he expected President Mahama and his NDC to allow the judicial bodies to solve the issue amicably before engaging the rightful occupant.

In one of the numerous suits filed on August 6, 2016, Nii Tetteh Kwei II and Nii Agyeman Kese II who is the head of the Agyeman Kese Division and also head of Nii Tackie Commey Ruling Royal House are asking an Accra High Court to restrain the other faction including Nii Latse II and Nii Yaote Otoga II from holding themselves as Ga Mantse and Ga Dsasetse respectively pending the final determination of the suit.

According to the plaintiffs, they are seeking a declaration that the defendants, who they claimed were parties in a consolidated petitions against the installation of Dr. Jo Blankson aka Nii Tackie Tawiah III, flouted the July 18, 2008 ruling of the Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs by illegally breaking into the Ga Royal Paramount Stool Room on June 11, 2011 when the petition had not be concluded.

As a result, they said the Ga Traditional Council cannot induct Nii Latse II as the Ga Mantse because, according to them, there are several suits against him including a challenge being mounted against his gazette into the register of the house of chiefs.

The plaintiffs are further claiming that Nii Latse II is nowhere near the Ga Mantse stool because, as they put it, “his ancestry is from Bator but the NDC is overlooking all the facts to foist him on the Ga people.”