By: Emmanuel Akayeti
In response to the accusation that some Traditional Authorities are compromised, when it comes to the exploitation of the natural resources in certain jurisdictions the Divisional Chief of Kong Divisional Area under the Tumu Paramountcy, who doubles as the Vice President of the Tumu Traditional Council, Kuoro Mohammed Zakaria Savei IV, said it is both an accusation and a reality based on who is involved sometimes.
He stated that the conduct of some chiefs at times leaves much to be desired. However, there are some Chiefs who are resolute in conduct as far as the development of the areas and subjects are concerned, especially where their lands are fast degrading away.
Kuoro Savei IV made these remarks on the sidelines of a two-day “Theory of Change Workshop”, organized by the Collaborating to Operationalising Landscape Approaches to Nature and Development Sustainability COLANDS in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Region.
Kuoro Savei IV, indicated that there are some factors that account for these situations where some chiefs may be tempted to be compromised. He said, for instance that as a custodian, the community is looking up to you to provide leadership and, in so doing there are some expenses Chiefs solder like receiving visitors and some delegation to the community.
Regarding his expectation of some remuneration for chiefs, the Divisional Chief explained that there is no laydown policy on paper for chief’s remuneration, but one would have thought that at the Municipal and District Assembly level where the District Chief Executive, the Coordinating Director and other actors within the Assembly are aware of the role of Chiefs, especially in solving conflict situations, helping to mobilize communal labor for development among others.
Kuoro Savei IV added that the Assembly could have used a portion of their Internal Generated Fund (IGF) to at least work a small percent for the skin so that, chiefs could use that to support themselves. He stated that a lot of the chiefs help in facilitating the mobilization of the IGF. All these, the Chief said, are motivational measures that could help cattail some of these allegations.