Daasebre Oduro Akenten II Denkyira Nifahene Abuakwahene who also serves as the acting President of Denkyira traditional council has accused the Queen Mother of Denkyira, Nana Ama Ayensua Saara III of misconduct and usurping his powers as a divisional chief ( Abuakwahene).
In a press conference held at his palace in Buabinso – Denkyira Abuakwa , Daasebre Oduro Akenten served notice that the conduct of the Denkyirahemaa in the various divisions has the potential of resulting in a lot of family disputes, fight and in some cases blood shed.
He again reiterated the importance of the Divisions stressing that the Divisional Chiefs make up the Denkyira divisional council and without the divisions , there is no Denkyira.
Be again berated Nana Ama Ayensua Saara III for usurping his powers as AbuakwaHene, NifaHene and Acting president of Denkyira Traditional council.
Citing an instance, Daasebre Oduro Akenten said ” Every Chief and Obaapanin (sub-queens) comes to Nifahene and Nifahemaa for Boatie before they are enstooled but now Denkyirahemaa has started taking my position from me as the Divisional Chief (AbuakwaHene) to take the Boatie ( money and drinks) from my sub-divisional Chiefs and maapaninfo to be enstooled”.
This behavior of DenkyiraHemaa he said cannot be countenance adding that the Divisional Chiefs have been patient enough but not anymore.
Going further the Abuakwahene And Acting President Of Denkyira Traditional Council said when there are any issues in the divisions, it is the Divisional Chief’s duty to settle them, until the matter escalate then, it’s referred to the traditional council but in their case, before they realize, the matter has been sent to Denkyira Hemaa.
“No one calls the Divisional Chief for his opinion, all of sudden a judgement has been passed. This misconduct of Denkyirahemaa in our various divisions is bringing a lot of acrimony in my case in Abuakwa, I have 13 towns under me and three of them have troubles in them because of DenkyiraHemaa”.
In his press statement, Daasebre Oduro Akenten further accused the Denkyirahemaa of dabbling in politics contrary to Article 276 of the 1992 constitution which states that a chief shall not take part in active party politics; and any chief wishing to do so and seeking election to Parliament shall abdicate his stool or skin.
He said the situation is not the same in Denkyira as the Denkyirhemaa is actively involved in the activities of the ruling party, the New Patriotic Party enabling her to have an edge (political powers) over the Divisional Chiefs.
He averred ” things are done in her way at all times, Divisional Chiefs can’t rule in their divisions anymore without DenkyiraHemaa’s interference, anyone can now just go to Jukwa instead of the Traditional council to make accusations against a Divisional Chief and the chief will never be called to explain his side of the story before a judgement is passed on the matter”.
He also criticized the Denkyirahemaa of disabling the traditional structure in Denkyira since none of the Denkyira divisions is currently working. He suggested that the only solution to the seeming turmoil in chieftancy in Denkyira is the installation of a new Denkyirahene since Denkyiraman has been without a king for almost 17yrs.
According to the Abuakwahene, currently preparations are underway for the continuation of the enstoolment of the Denkyira Kyekyewere (Nyameso stool) on Monday 8th July, 2024 at Kyekyewere under the command and protection from Denkyira Hemaa Nana Ama Ayensuaa Saara lll.
He said even though the case is in court and there is an Injunction on it , they intend to go ahead for the enstoolment.
” We are hoping that they will listen to
the court otherwise things can go very wrong here. As the Acting president of Denkyira Traditional council, Nifahene and leader of Abuakwaman with the help of my people we will do anything necessary to prevent any enstoolment in Kyekyewere and AkyemKrom without my approval”, he cautioned.
The Acting President Of Denkyira Traditional Council however appealed to the Regional and National Traditional council as well as the Minister for Chieftancy Affairs and the President of Ghana to quickly step in to address the impasse.
Reacting to the allegations, the Denkyirahemaa Nana Ama Ayensua Saara III refuted the allegations through her spokesperson Lawyer Emmanuel Kojo Nana. In an interview the spokesperson said the allegations were unfounded stressing that if the Abuakwahene had issues with Denkyirahemaa he should have gone to the right forum, the Regional House of Chiefs and not the Media.
He again said Denkyirahemaa is not behind the swearing of Denkyira Kyekyewerehene on Monday,8th July, 2024 as alleged by Daasebre Oduro Akenten. He said Denkyirahemaa has no hand in it and said since the situation is in court, she will allow the courts to pronounce judgement on the issue.
The spokesperson further appealed to the public to disregard the allegation that the Denkyirahemaa Nana Ama Ayensua Saara III is involved in politics. He said the allegations are unfounded since the Queen mother has always stayed clear of politics and has no backing of the present government.