Parliament by consensus on Wednesday [March 23, 2017] approved the budgetary estimates of the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs for the year 2017.
This follows a motion moved by Mr Kofi Dzamesi, Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs on the floor of Parliament for the house to approve an amount of GHC34,328,789 as budget allocation for the year 2017.
The Ministry of Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs was on January 2017 re-designated as the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs to enable it supervise the promotion of religious activities in the country, including the management of Christian, Islamic and other religious bodies.
Mr. Dzamesi, briefing Parliament on the ministry’s policies and programmes for 2017 announced that the ministry would sensitise chiefs on their roles in land acquisition and the importance of community land use plans.
He said the ministry would also focus on enhancing the capacity of Traditional Authorities in advocacy, peace building, and dispute resolution adding that advocacy programmes would be organised for the youth in selected traditional areas.
He said the ministry intends to educate the general public on the positive roles of the chieftaincy institution and to undertake monitoring visits to the House of Chiefs and Traditional Councils.
Mr. Dzamesi further stated that the ministry would ensure peace and stability in the traditional areas, organise a nationwide exercise to delineate and demarcate boundaries of paramountcies of the Houses of Chiefs.
He said the ministry would complete the codification of eleven lines of succession to Stool/Skins as well as categorisation of ten customary laws relating to land and family.
He also announced that the ministry would get eight hundred (800) chiefs into the National Register and settle sixty (60) judicial cases and resolve forty more through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
Mr Alex Kofi Agyekum, Member of Parliament (MP) for Mpohor in his contribution on the motion urged the house to approve budget estimates of GHC34,328,789 to the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs for the 2017 financial year.
He said the ministry had an important mandate and when carried out effectively would help decree the many chieftaincy conflicts as well as the rising spate of religious disputes in Ghana.
Mr Kobina Woyome, MP for South Tongu in his contribution stated that though the ministry’s budget for 2017 compared to 2016 had increased it still needed to prioritise its activities in order to have optimal utilisation of its allocated funds.
He said the increase in compensation allocation would enable the ministry recruit and replace staff as well as engage the services of lawyers to assist the judicial committee of the National House of Chiefs to expedite action on the numerous chieftaincy cases before them.
He called on the ministry to ensure effective collaboration between the chieftaincy institutions and the various district assemblies to ensure peace in the localities.
Mr Richard Quashigah, MP for Keta in his contribution stated that the re-aligned Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs was important because its activities would impact on the social nerve of the society.
He said though the GHC34,328,789 allocation for 2017 was higher than that of the 2016 it was not enough because the mandate and scope of the ministry had expanded.
He said the remit of the ministry was no longer within the domain of chieftaincy alone but superintended Christian, Islamic and other religious affairs.
Mr Klutse Avedzi, Deputy Minority Leader expressed concern that out of the GHC34,328,789 budget estimates for the ministry only GHC 2,000,000 was set aside for the running of the administration, which he stated was inadequate.
He therefore called for more allocation for the ministry during the mid-year review of the budget.
Sarah Adwoa Sarfo, Deputy Majority Leader in her contribution stated that the increase in compensation for the ministry was to enable them to recruit more lawyers to assist the judicial committee of the National House of Chiefs to discharge their mandate.
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