SC to Deliver Judgement On Gomoa-Akyempim Chieftaincy Dispute July 25

By Malik Sullemana

The Supreme Court (SC), has adjourned to July 25, 2018, to deliver judgement on the Gomoa-Akyempim chieftaincy dispute.

The four-member panel of judges, presided by Justice Jones Dotse, said yesterday that the judgement was not ready.

A decision by the SC is expected to bring to closure the 20-year chieftaincy dispute between Nana Abor Yamoah II and Abor Ewusie Royal Twidan Family of Gomoa Fetteh.

Gomoa Fetteh, a peri-urban part of the Central Region is without a legally recognised traditional ruler since the late 1990s.

The applicant, Edward Acquaye, said to have adopted the stool name Nana Abor Yamoah II since 1997, wanted an order from the SC directed at the National House of Chiefs to have his name accepted as the paramount chief of Gomoa -Akyempim paramountcy.

However, for the SC to grant his petition, it would have to overturn rulings by the three traditional institutions that have responsibility for endorsing chieftaincy nominees in that paramountcy.

These are the Gomoa-Akyempim Traditional Council, the Central Regional House of Chiefs and the National House of Chiefs.

The SC's ruling, would settle a dispute which has raged since August 1997, when there was a failed attempt to destool the then chief, Nana Abor Ewusie XIX.

A family member, Kojo Amwankwanor, allegedly tried to rally members of the family to destool Nana Abor Ewusie XIX because he had gone blind, and placed Nana Abor Yamoah II, also known as Edward Acquaye, as the chief.

Nana Abor Yamoah II has asked the superior court in his petition to order the National House of Chiefs to add his name to the register of chiefs.

Nana Yamoah has asked the SC to have his name accepted by the National House of Chiefs as the paramount chief of Gomoa-Akyempim Paramountcy, a request the Twidan Family have challenged.

But the Twidan Family said Nana Yamoah II was cited for contempt by the Swedru High Court when he attempted to destool Nana Abor Ewusie XIX, the former chief of Gomoa Akyempim paramountcy.

They said the former chiefs appealed against the attempt to destool which the Judicial Committee of the Central Regional House of Chiefs upheld on grounds that blindness was not a reason to declare the chief unfit to rule.

Again the family said the Winneba High Court refused to "impose Nana Yamoah on the National House of Chiefs and his name was subsequently removed from the register of chiefs in 2014".

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