)
In Ghanaian culture, the chief's position extends far beyond symbolism. A chief is trustee of community land, a unifying figure for people, a peacemaker, and a link between the people and the state.
With a chief who is well-respected, communities are able to balance development, spur investments, and provide law and order. Chiefs preserve the culture while guiding their people towards development, and in doing so, they anchor the growth and stability of towns and villages across the country.
Nevertheless, in Adansi Akrokkerri, a previously thriving town in the Ashanti Region, the extended length of time without a chief has brought about a leadership vacuum that is distorting development and fanning disorderliness.
Since the demise of Nana Asare Bediako II, the Akrokkerrihene, on 23rd July 2001, the stool has remained vacant. Nearly twenty years without a substantive traditional leader have eroded the town's ability to organize itself, protect its resources, and secure its future. Amongst the most tangible consequences of this lacuna is the wholesale increase in illegal mining, famously known as “galamsey”.
Without a chief to oversee land use and exercise communal discipline, agricultural lands and forest reserves are being turned into mining pits. Waterways have been polluted, and the youth, who formerly used to consult traditional leaders, are now being drawn into ecologically destructive professions for the lack of alternatives.
"Absence of a chief has emboldened illegal miners," said an opinion leader who requested anonymity. "There is no customary authority to confront them or to rally the people to safeguard our lands. It hurts." The leadership vacuum has also stifled development.
The key infrastructure such as roads, health centers, and schools either do not exist or are in a state of disrepair. Akrokkerri, its own historical teacher training school, is now struggling to maintain even the bare minimum facilities for development to take place. Without someone to speak for the town to municipal authorities, Adansi Akrokkerri is typically left out of district-planning and resource allocations.
"When the chief is away, the town becomes quiet," stated one local. "Projects are given to other communities with good leadership." Moreover, the chieftaincy crisis has divided the town. The protracted court cases by the royals on who sits on the stool have stretched the royal family and weakened communal unity.
The result is inefficiency in solving local issues—ranging from sanitation and youth unemployment to crime and land feuds. The people in the community, the elders, and the youth groups are now calling for the expeditious resolution process to install a new Akrokkerrihene. The restoration of the chieftaincy has been believed by many as the starting point for the restoration of law, order, and development.
The Adansi Akrokkerri case is a cautionary tale that the classic leadership will forever belong to Ghana's development agenda. A chiefless society is like a ship without a skipper—pointless, vulnerable, and directionless. While the country is devastated by illegal mining and development are in limbo, the citizens of Adansi Akrokkerri wait in expectation—waiting for the day when their stool would be occupied once more, and their town, rekindled.