According to our news correspondents, a chieftaincy dispute in Sakyikrom, a community near Nsawam in the Eastern Region of Ghana, has escalated into a fierce confrontation over an attempt to reinstate a destooled chief.
According to reports, the chief in question Nana Osae Duodu Anka IV was enstooled as chief a decade ago(2013) but was informed whilst abroad for medical treatment in 2020 that a new chief had been enstooled in his absence.
Upon returning to the community after the COVID-19 pandemic, Nana Osae Anka IV petitioned the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs and the Regional Police Command to be restored as chief and to have access to his properties at the palace.
However, the queen mother, Nana Agyarkwabea, insisted that Nana Osae Duodu Anka IV was only a caretaker chief who had signed an MOU to step down when a substantive chief was nominated, and thus blocked his access.
Armed police deployed by the Nsawam Police Command stormed the community at dawn to provide security for the reoccupation of the palace by the alleged destooled chief.
However, angry youth and some residents in the community resisted, leading to a fierce confrontation that nearly led to deadly violence. It took the intervention of Mawerehene of Sakyikrom, Nana Takyi Akomea, to calm down tempers.
Addressing the aggrieved youth and a section of the Buafi gate of the Ayoko Royal family at Sakyikrom palace, Nana Takyi Akomea urged the youth to remain calm and not to resort to violence amidst escalating tension.
He said that, according to customs and traditions of the Ayoko Royal family, Odeefuor Sakyi Agyarkwa is the legitimate chief of Sakyikrom, and it is misleading for the Ghana Police Service to aid destooled Nana Osae Anka IV from the Amma Tawia gate of the Ayoko Royal family to occupy the stool.
Nana Takyi Akomea explained that the case is pending at the High Court for due legal process to be followed to resolve the impasse. He called on IGP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare to call the Nsawam Police Command to order so that they do not engage in any illegality that would disturb the peace of Sakyikrom.
The aggrieved youth, on the other hand, have vowed to protect the Ayoko Royal stool and resist any attempt to install a new or reinstate the destooled chief.
