Asantehene cautions judges, lawyers on chieftaincy law

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II said this constitutional guarantee must serve as notice to all persons, particularly those on the Bench and at the Bar who were not intimately familiar with the laws concerning chieftaincy, that the institution was not merely tolerated within the country’s modern constitutional order but entrenched within it as a core part of the nation’s governance architecture.” Tracing the historical relationship between the two institutions, the Asantehene said long before the colonial courtroom was established, chieftaincy stood as a principal organ of governance, justice and social order, with the chief serving as supreme priest, judge, custodian of land and symbol of continuity between the living, the dead and the unborn.

Citing Article 270 of Ghana’s current constitution, the 1992 Constitution, Otumfuo Osei Tutu said the 1992 Constitution was clear and decisive, guaranteed the freedom of the chieftaincy institution, together with the Traditional Councils established under customary law.