Okyenhene wants Akyem-Abuakwa chiefs to retire at 75

The Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, is pushing for mandatory abdication of chiefs on attainment of the ripe age of 75 years. He said such chiefs would have passed their productive period of life and must have no difficulty letting go their hold of the stool. He added any traditional ruler after about 35 years reign should have achieved anything they might have set for themselves to bring progress to the people they were leading. Addressing a meeting of the Akyem-Abuakwa State Council at Akwatia, he rallied the chiefs to give serious consideration to the proposal and to endorse it. The Okyehene suggested any retiring chief should be adequately compensated, provided with healthcare benefits and receive fitting royal burial on death. Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, now 67, indicated his readiness to vacate the stool at 75, if the proposal was agreed to by the Council. The chiefs pleaded with him for time to allow for adequate consultations on the radical reform. The relatively younger chiefs appear to have no problem with it but the same cannot be said of those, who are either nearing or already passed their 75th birthday. The latter are not only unexcited but look visibly apprehensive. Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin used the occasion to caution them against giving out lands for illegal mining in their communities. Offending chiefs, he declared, would forfeit their title to those lands. He repeated his unswerving commitment towards helping the government to reclaim lands destroyed through illegal mining. Source GNA