GOVT WONT INTERFERE IN TECHIMAN-TUOBODOM FEUD (PAGE 3, MARCH 23, 2010)

THE Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has stated that the government will not interfere in the Tuobodom-Techiman chieftaincy feud because it does not have the constitutional authority to do so.
He said even though the government was concerned about the development, it would leave everything to the traditional authorities that had the constitutional mandate to go into such matters and take decisions on them.
Speaking to journalists after paying a private visit to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the Manhyia Palace last Saturday, the Vice-President said the government would continue to respect the constitutional provision that prevented it from indulging in matters relating to chieftaincy.
He expressed the hope that the traditional machinery would find a lasting solution to the Techiman-Tuobodom affair.
He, however, called for peace between the Asanteman Council and Techiman Traditional Council in the aftermath of the accusations and counter-accusations over the alleged kidnapping of the Tuobodomhene, Nana Asare Baffour II, by agents of the Techimanhene.
He said the government was concerned about recent unfortunate developments between the two traditional areas and expressed the hope that peace would reign.
Even though the Vice-President’s mission to Manhyia was not disclosed, it was believed to have centred on how to broker peace in the troubled Techiman-Tuobodom area.
Three people died from gunshots and four were injured on March 6, 2010, when clashes broke out in Tuobodom over the chieftaincy conflict.
That was after supporters of the Tuobodom Omanhene had protested against the detention of the chief in police cells after agents of the Techimanhene, Oseadeyo Akumfi Ameyaw IV, had allegedly kidnapped and assaulted him at the Techiman palace.
At the Asanteman Council meeting last week, the Asantehene, who is the Overlord of the Tuobodom Omanhene, condemned the attack on the Omanhene and chastised the police in the Brong Ahafo Region for failing to bring the Techimanhene to order.
Tension rose in Kumasi and Techiman, with some of the youth taking the law into their own hands to misbehave, but the situation calmed down after a government delegation had held talks with the Asantehene and the Techimanhene.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Police Crime Officer and the Wenchi Divisional Police Officer have been transferred in what many believe is related to the disturbances at Tuobodom.
However, the Police Administration explained that the transfers were not related to the incidents and that they were part of routine police transfers.