The late Paramount Chief of Nandom, Naa Dr. Puoure Puobe Chiir have been laid to rest.
Parts of the final funeral rites for the late Chief took place at the forecourt the Palace in Nandom and the magnificent St. Theresas Basilica.
Amongst the large crowd of mourners who converged on Nandom for the funeral were the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, former President John Dramani Mahama, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nandom and Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Dery and the Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih and his deputy Amidu Chinnia Issahaku.
Radio Ghana’s Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo & Mark Smith report that other dignitaries included the National Chairman of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Prof. Edmund Delle, The Peoples National Convention (PNC), Bernard Mornah, the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, (NDC), Johnson Aseidu Nketia, a former Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, and The President of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs Kuoro Richard Babini Kanton.
Vice President Bawumia donated 10 thousand Ghana Cedis to the family of the late Paramount Chief.
The late Naa who was the Paramount Chief of Nandom from 1985-2018 was born on October 13, 1945 at Nandom.
His early education saw him at the Local Authority and Middle Day schools in Nandom from 1951 to 1958. Naa thereafter went to Government Secondary School in Tamale, now Tamale Senior High School where he obtained his GCE “Ordinary” and “Advanced” Levels.
He went to Italy in 1965 where he undertook undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Economics, Commerce and Administration at the University of Vernice (Ca Foscar).
He obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Economics from the University of Bologna in 1976.
Naa Dr. Puoure Puobe Chiir after his PhD, worked in Italy for a while before returning home in 1985 to be enskinned as Nandom Naa on May 2, 1985.
Whilst in Italy, Naa among others worked as an assistant lecturer at the Department of Economics in the University of Venice. Between 1995 and 2001 he was elected as the Vice President of the National House of Chiefs and Acted as President of the House for about 2 years.
He was a key member of the committee that drew the 1992 constitution. Naa was appointed Member of the Consultative Assembly that drew up the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and an elected a Member of the Council of State for Upper West Region from 1994 to 2001.
He served on a number of boards, including that of the Forestry Commission, Nandom Hospital Advisory Board, Regional Health Services and Board of Governors of Nandom Secondary School. Naa Dr. Puoure Puobe Chiir had been described by other chiefs and the people of Nandom as a forward-thinking leader who was first to ban bush-burning in his traditional area while implementing several policies to help improve the lives of his people.
His Palace was a popular dispute resolution centre for non-criminal disputes among his subjects.
Very significant during the reign of Naa Dr.Puoure Puobe Chiir, was the introduction of the popular annual Kakube Festival in 1989 to further promote the culture as well as peace and unity in the Nandom Traditional Area.
He is survived by a wife, 7 children and a number of grandchildren.
Story by Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo & Mark Smith
