The Paramount Queen Mother of the Ningo Traditional Council, Naana Dugbakwa Dugba II has appealed to the government to fast-track the amendment of the Chieftaincy Act 2008 to establish clearly, the role of the queen mothers in the traditional council.
She said although the current Act classifies both the chiefs and queen mothers as chiefs and the queen mother per the act, is the next highest person in the absence of the Paramount Chief, the council does not acknowledge this role hence the need to make it clearly stated to make them visible.
Naana was speaking to the media at the 2023 Civil Service Week Celebrations as part of activities planned by the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs on Wednesday, 31st May 2023 at the Policy and Tourism Fair to enable the public to understand the activities of the Ministry.
According to her, the establishment of the Ministry has brought some enlightenment in the chieftaincy affairs as now most people are getting the understanding of chieftaincy issues and its role in development. She thanked the Minister, Hon. Stephen Asamoah Boateng for opening his doors to them and putting in much effort for the Chieftaincy Act, 2008 to be amended.
Touching on her role, she mentioned that in her community, besides supporting women to develop, her key focus has been to tour the Junior high schools and provide young girls with sanitary pads as well as provide all final year students at the Junior high level with resources for their Basic Education Certificate Exams (B.E.C.E).
She used the platform to encourage her fellow queen mothers to continue to support developmental works in their various community and not be deterred by the lack of resources as this was their duty call.
The Civil Service Week is aimed at celebrating all civil servants for the role they play in promoting development in the country. The Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs participated in the celebration to showcase their programmes and activities as well as interact with the general public on all they need to know about the Ministry.
It’s the first time the Ministry is participating however they have been able to interact with a lot of people including chiefs and some religious leaders who could not hide their excitement seeing their Ministry at the fair.
The theme for this year’s celebration is ‘Enhanced Service Delivery and Economic Transformation in Ghana: The Civil Service In Focus’
