Chieftaincy institution (Ghana)


The chieftaincy institution in Ghana is a system that structures and regulates the activity of local chieftains in the Ghanaian society and state.

Paper and legislation

In pre-colonial times, leadership was the axis of executive, legislative and judicial powers. Since the colonial era, the institution has been linked to Ghanaian politics. Several governments - the colonial, civilian, or military - have attempted, in one way or another, to influence the role of chiefs in political affairs.
The legislation that underpins the chieftaincy institution in Ghana currently is itself Ghana's constitution and the chieftaincy act of 2008.

Categories of chiefs

The chiefs are divided by the act of leadership into 5 categories :
  1. the Asantehene and Paramount Chiefs
  2. Divisional Chiefs
  3. Sub-divisional Chiefs
  4. Adikrofo, and
  5. such other Chiefs not falling within any of the preceding categories as are recognised by the Regional House of Chiefs.
Popularly and informally divides chiefs between
royalty and nobility, using the European comparative scale of equivalence:

Royalty

They are the monarchs proper, who prevailed before colonization with sovereignty or complete autonomy. We can divide in:
The primary difference between the nobility and traditional royalty is the "stools" which the latter possess, that is, the thrones. Just as royal titles are very diverse and vary from ethnicity to ethnicity, so too are those of nobles, but when comparing them to the basic categories of the Western European standard we have:
A relatively new phenomenon has been observed in Ghana, as in other parts of Africa. Dynastic orders related to the royal chiefs and their lineages have begun to appear. Some examples:
These, on the one hand, have been an alternative to the banalization of the development chief category, but have themselves been criticized by certain conservative monarchists for not respecting the tradition of cavalry not belonging to the traditions of most of Africa, although few question reigning kings right to reformulate and create honors at will.

Notable chiefs

Supreme chiefs:
Divisional chiefs:
Development chiefs: