THREE WA ROYAL GATES APPEAL AGAINST JUDGEMENT (PAGE 23, MARCH 6, 2010)

THREE royal gates involved in the Wa chieftaincy affairs have filed a notice of appeal at the National House of Chiefs in Kumasi against the judgement of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs to recognise Naa Fusieni Seidu Pelpuo as the paramount chief of the Wala Traditional Area.
The appeal filed on January 29, 2010, challenges the entire judgement of the Judicial Committee of the Regional House of Chiefs and the entire cost awarded against the petitioners in the case, namely the Gbotoree Naa Alhaji Issah Bukari, the Sing Naa Mumuni Saaka and Mr Bomson Seidu Hamidu.
The three gates are Yijiihi, Najeri and Jonyuohi. Apart from those three gates, there is another gate, Nakpaha, making it a total of four gates in the Wala Traditional Area.
Addressing a news conference in Wa, the spokesman of the three gates, Naa Jamal Kpeglah, said the appeal also sought reliefs that the judgement of the judicial committee be set aside with the reliefs being sought by the petitioners in their substantive petition be granted.
He stated that the three gates had been sufficiently advised by their counsel that under the requirement of the law, Sections 34 and 62 of Act 759 (Chieftaincy Act, 2008) operate as a stay of execution.
“We, therefore, pray and crave the indulgence of all well-meaning citizens of Wa and Ghana as a whole to help uphold the rule of law and the maintenance of peace that has prevailed in Wa,” he said.
Naa Kpeglah commended the people of the Wala Traditional Area for the mature and able manner they handled the chieftaincy dispute, notably in a peaceful way.
He mentioned in particular their conduct and that of the security personnel for the high professionalism they exhibited in the maintenance of peace and security in the Wa Municipality before, during and after the ruling of the Regional House of Chiefs.
Naa Kpeglah, however, cautioned the security services and the Regional Security Council in particular that information reaching the three gates indicated that in spite of the painstaking legal procedures that “we are following to seek proper redress, some persons are holding out themselves as chiefs of Wa and conducting business as such.”
“We thereby appeal to the authorities that they should help maintain law and order and also the rule of law to prevail in Wa. I wish to emphasise that we believe in due process and have the confidence that the truth shall always prevail,” he added.
It would be recalled that the Daily Graphic, in its February 3, 2010 edition, published that the Judicial Committee of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs had thrown out a petition challenging the enskinment and outdooring of Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo as the Wa Naa.
The petitioners in the case had sought, among others, reliefs that the meeting of kingmakers for the election of Wa Naa on January 19, 2007 was null and void and of no effect.
However, after three years of hearing, judgement was entered in favour of the defendant and cost awarded against the petitioners.