By Kwabia Owusu-Mensah, GNA
Kumasi, Dec. 12, GNA – The National House of Chiefs (NHC) has removed Ogyeahohoo Yaw Gyebi, President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, as the chairman of the Governance and Development Committee of the House.
The decision which was taken by the Standing Committee of the House, was in response to his public comments on the statement issued by the House to declare its position on the holding of the now aborted referendum.
Togbe Afede XIV, President of the House, who announced this said the Standing Committee’s decision followed Ogyeahohoo’s penchant for ridiculing the House in public.
According to him, this was the second time Ogyeahohoo Yaw Gyebi, who is also the Paramount chief of Sehwi-Anhwiaso traditional area, had gone out to counter press statement collectively issued by the House.
“The leadership of the House will not accept the continuance of Nana Gyebi as the chairman of the Governance and Development Committee of the House.
We will have a replacement of the chairmanship in due course”, he told a meeting of the House in Kumasi, on Thursday.
The House in a statement jointly signed by Togbe Afede XIV and Daasebre Ewusi Atibrikusu, President and Vice President respectively, objected to the holding of the referendum, which sought to decide whether political parties should sponsor candidates to contest the district assembly elections.
The statement generated a lot of furore in the country making some members of the House, including Ogyeahohoo, coming out openly to deny and object to the position of the House.
However, explaining the basis that informed the decision of the leadership to issue the statement, Togbe Afede insisted that it was based on the report received from the Legal and Constitutional Committee, which was referred to the Governance and Development Committee for deliberation and consideration, before it was later adopted as the position of the House.
He said the crux of the statement was that, elections at the local levels on partisanship basis, would exclude chiefs from local governance, adding that the “House objected to the notion that membership of local assemblies should exclusively be made by political parties”.
Togbe Afede said the position of the House was not whether to tell Ghanaians to vote “no” or “yes”, but was an objection of the House to the holding of the referendum, which was going to prevent chiefs from taking part in local governance.
Throwing more light on why the other members of the House who also publicly objected to the statement were not sanctioned, he explained that the Standing Committee considered the fact that some of them were making such comments for the first time, while others after seeking clarification from the leadership, stood down of their comments.
Togbe Afede said, he was absolutely committed to the best interest of the House and would not do anything that would undermine the interest of the House and bring it into public ridicule, adding that, he would continue to the best of his ability to defend the best interest of chiefs and the people of Ghana.
He appealed to members of the House to see themselves as a family and try to handle disagreements as family affair instead of going public to dent the image of the House.
GNA
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