[ 2014-01-02 ]

50 Queenmothers for National House of Chiefs
Fifty queenmothers are to join the National House
of Chiefs (NHC) as full-time members this year.
The decision of the NHC implies that five
queenmothers from each of the 10 regions would be
eligible to take their seats in the House.

This has been welcomed as a major reform to end
years of what many described as discrimination
against women at the NHC. This also means that the
membership of the NHC would increase from the
current all-male 50 to 100.

It has also been decided that two queenmothers
from each region would join their respective
regional houses of chiefs as members.

The President of the National House of Chiefs,
Wulugu Naba Pugansoa, Naa Prof. John S. Nabila,
who disclosed this at the end-of-year meeting of
the NHC in Kumasi, said the legal committee of the
House had been tasked to work out the modalities
for the admission of the queenmothers.

Many people have criticised the absence of
queenmothers in the various houses of chiefs, and
had persistently called for a reversal of the
development since they saw it as discriminatory.

When he assumed leadership of the NHC about five
years ago, Naa Prof. Nabila outlined a process to
get the House to admit the queenmothers and at the
meeting of the NHC, he seemed delighted that his
dream had been realised.

Naa Prof. Nabila said during 2013, the house
continued the implementation of reports from
research into the succession of kings and added
that 15 more stools were covered and their names
had been forwarded to the Ministry of Justice and
Attorney General for further action.

Already, research on 11 stools has been concluded
and their implementation passed into law.

The Chieftaincy Minister, Dr Henry Seidu Danaa,
who also addressed the house, commended the chiefs
for their laudable role in the development of
their traditional areas and the nation.

Source - Daily Graphic

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