The palace of the Ga Mantse (Ga King), King Tackie Tawiah II, has come under intense threat in recent times with the latest attack occurring on Sunday, May 23rd, 2010.
According to reports, some irate youth of the Ga state managed to sneak to the premises of the Ga Mantse with the sole aim of destooling the Ga King and in the processes vandalized properties belonging to the Ga Mantse and for that matter the Ga state.
This is the second time the Ga Mantse palace had been besieged within a spate of weeks by the same marauding youth.
On both occasions, it took the intervention of some state security machinery to avert what otherwise would have been a bloodbath.
According to one of the attackers, their action is influenced by the lack of recognition by government to the Ga Mantse and therefore believed the withdrawal of government support has affected development of the Ga state.
The stance of the youth, the paper believes, is being supported by some government officials as the Ga Mantse has alluded to recently.
According to King Tackie Tawiah, the government was causing great disaffection among Ga indigenes about his kingship due to the deliberate non-recognition and disrespect being shown by government to his reign as the overlord of the Ga state.
With the apparent lack of recognition, the Ga King has been refused invitations to many state functions when indeed other chiefs whose reign, are also embroiled in confusion and conflict are invited.
However in the midst of the government disrespect to the choice of the Ga people, the Ga traditional council has reiterated its unflinching support to their traditional leader.
The paper believes what is goading on such Ga miscreants to cause confusion in the Ga state is the obvious belligerent posture of government towards the Ga Mantse.
But Today is reminding the Mills led administration about similar chieftaincy disputes in many parts of the country and whether in those cases it has taken an entrenched interest that undermines the sitting king or chief, even if the right of the custodian is being challenged by other interested parties.
To the best of our knowledge government is not dabbling in chieftaincy disputes in other areas of the country, so why the Ga state?
The paper wonders why government is not allowing the courts to deal with the Ga dispute. The paper is aware that the installment of the Ga Mantse is being contested by some Ga indigenes who, do not approve of King Tackie Tawiah’s reign.
The Gbese Mantse whose installment was also questioned by some citizens of the Ga state was finally settled by the Supreme Court which ruled recently that the Gbese Mantse, Nii Ayi Bontey’s installment was legitimate and therefore has the traditional right to rule as the Gbese Mantse.
We are afraid that the Ga Mantse issue, if not nipped-in the-bud by the powers that be, some of whom unfortunately are interested parties in the case, could set in motion a barbaric carnage, similar to what consumed the Overlord of Dagbon, Ya Na Yakubu Andani and forty others.
Like the murder of the overlord of Dagbon and forty others, where the Kufuor administration failed to act swiftly although there were enough indications that the Gbewa Palace was under siege, it is clear that dark clouds loom over the Ga chieftaincy and the earlier the Mills administration sheds off its interest and act decisively, the better it would be for all of us.