NANA ADJEI AMPOFO V. THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL HOUSE OF CHIEFS

JUDGMENT

DR. DATE-BAH JSC:

All members of this Court are agreed on the following judgment. Chieftaincy is a revered and constitutionally entrenched institution in Ghana. The reach of chiefs extends even beyond the formal machinery of the Ghanaian State. Some of the rural settlements or communities without a permanent local resident representative of the Ghanaian State will, almost inevitably, have a chiefly leadership. The social value of the institution of chieftaincy is thus given widespread recognition by the Ghanaian public. Nevertheless the rights of even chiefs are subject to the 1992 Constitution. Indeed, as Coussey JA percipiently observed in Republic v. Techiman Traditional Council, Ex parte Tutu [1982-83] GLR 996 at 999:

“Chieftaincy, since the British colonial administration, has been governed by statute and this has continued since the independence of Ghana in 1957.”

Thus, the institution of chieftaincy, although it has evolved in accordance with customary law, has been subjec…