Tamale, the capital city of the Northern Region, is feverishly getting ready to host the 62nd national Independence Day anniversary parade of the security agencies and schoolchildren.

The King of Dagbon, Yaa Na Abukari Mahama II, Thursday visited the Jubilee House for a historic courtesy call on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

This is the first time a sitting Yaa Na has paid a call on a sitting President at the seat of government.

His visit was to formally introduce himself to the President Akufo-Addo and to thank him for securing peace in Dagbon.

The King of Dagbon, Ya-Na Abukari II, says the use of violence as a means of settling misunderstandings between youth groups in communities will no longer be countenanced by the traditional authorities in Dagbon.

The Ya-Na said the only sustainable approach to the effective settlement of communal disputes and disagreement is through continued dialogue and compromises.

Former President Jerry John Rawlings, has urged the overlord of Dagbon, Ya Naa Abubakari Mahama II, to use his authority to urge members of his kingdom and Ghanaians to exercise tolerance and avoid provocation in their campaign ahead of the 2020 elections.

“I can only hope and pray that we apply strategy, mobilization and organization instead of force and violence during the upcoming elections,” the former President said.

Flt Lt Rawlings made the comments when Ya Naa Abubakari Mahama paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Accra on Friday.

The King of Dagbon Traditional Area, Yaa-Na Abubakari Mahama ll, has proposed the establishment of an upper chamber to replace the Council of State.

He stated that the chamber should be made up of eminent chiefs and distinguished Ghanaians with the power to consider certain bills before they are sent to Parliament.

“It is high time Ghana amended its constitution to replace the present Council of State with Senate or Upper House…composed of prominent chiefs, distinguished Ghanaian men and women with the power to consider certain bills before Parliament,” he suggested.

Yaa-Na Abubakari Mahama was speaking at the grand durbar of chiefs and people of Okyeman on in the Eastern Region Saturday, to climax the 20th-anniversary celebrations of the Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin.

The Council of State is a small body of prominent citizens, analogous to the Council of Elders in the traditional political system, which advises the President on national issues. The Council of State was established by Articles 89 to 92 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

The members include a former Chief Justice of Ghana, a former Chief of the Defence Staff and a former Inspector-General of Police and the President of the National House of Chiefs. Each region of Ghana also has an elected representative. The President of Ghana also appoints eleven members. Members stay in office until the term of office of the President ends.

But the Dagbon King who was the Special Guest of Honour for the occasion said, the proposed chamber will also see to the appointments of key positions such as Auditor-General, Inspector-General of Police, Chairperson and Members of Electoral Commission, Vice Chancellors of State Universities and Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission.

He noted further that the appointment of the heads of these five vital institutions by the President, “has been a source of great disagreements between every ruling government and the opposition.”

“If we transfer the power to appoint the heads of these institutions to the [proposed] Senate, it will be good for our democracy. It is time for Ghana to bring to an end, the prevailing politics of the winner-takes-all,” he advised.

source: ghanaweb.com

The Senior Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo together with some delegations on Monday paid courtesy calls on Yaa-Na Abubakari Mahama II, and other traditional leaders in the Northern Region.

This formed part of his three-day visit to the Northern Region to educate citizens on the Ghana Beyond Aid (GBA) project as well as solicit and harness their views and concerns on how to improve on the project.

The Ghana Beyond Aid is a national and non-partisan initiative which aims at helping to ensure effective harnessing of the country's resources and deploying them effectively and efficiently for rapid economic development and social transformation.

Mr Osafo-Maafo addressing the Yaa-Na in Yendi, said GBA was the vision of government and will seek to encourage all citizens to have a change in attitude and work ethics to help boost productivity in the country devoid of external support.

He said the country was blessed with lots of resources, but its development rate was slow and that efforts needed to be put in place to help put the resources into productive use.

Mr Osafo-Maafo called on the Ya Naa and citizens in the region to support the government in realising its vision.

The Yaa Na Abubakari Mahama II, assured the Minister of his support to make the government's vision a reality.

He said access to quality education was a challenge in the area and as part of his efforts to enhance the quality of education, he acquired 500 acres land for the establishment of a satellite campus of the University for Development Studies in the Yendi area and appealed to the Minister for support in developing the satellite campus.

He appealed to the Minister to use his outfit to help lobby for more boreholes for the Yendi area to help ensure that the citizens had equitable access to potable water, especially during the dry season.

source: ghanaweb.com