Samuel Kwabina Antwi has filed a suit at the High Court in Accra in the capacity as Otumfuo Baidoe Bonsoe XVI against the Member of Parliament for Ahanta West, Mavis Kuukua Bissue, and two others over the repatriation of the severed head of the late Otumfuo Baidoo Bonsoe II.
Otumfuo Baidoe Bonsoe XVI’s writ seeks to also scatter a planned Ahanta heritage month where itenary of program has been scheduled for this month including invitation to the Speaker of Parliament by way of injunction to arrest the program initiated by the legislator of Ahanta Mavis Kukua Bissue.
Also joined in the suit as defendants are Ben Ansah, who is accused of styling and parading himself as Otumfuo Baidoo Bonsoe II, and Nana Obo Atta Kukuamoa, who is alleged to be also styling himself as the Krontihene of the Ahanta Traditional Area.
The suit was filed jointly by Otumfuo Baidoe Bonsoe XVI and the Paramount Queenmother of the Ahanta Traditional Area, Nana Sene Akuba IV, Ebusuapanyin Agya Bura of the Anona Royal Family, and Nana Akye Kessie VI, Divisional Chief of Cape Three Points and a member of the Ahanta Traditional Council.
The defendants in the suit are Mavis Kukua Bissue, MP, Ben Ansah, and Nana Obo Atta Kukuamoah, chief of Takoradi Amanful.
In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that, under the customary law and usage of the Ahanta State, the receipt, custody, ceremonial handling, funeral rites and burial of the repatriated severed head of the late Otumfuo Baidoe Bonsoe II fall exclusively within the customary authority of the Paramount Chief acting together with the Anona Royal Family and the appropriate customary custodians.
They further contend that the defendants have no customary, legal or other lawful authority to represent the Ahanta State or engage any individual or institution on its behalf regarding the repatriation, release, receipt, custody, ceremonial handling or burial of the severed head.
The plaintiffs are also seeking a declaration that every request, representation, negotiation, arrangement or purported authority exercised by the defendants in relation to the repatriation and custody of the severed head is unlawful, unauthorized, null and void.
The writ further seeks perpetual injunctions restraining the defendants from representing themselves as persons authorized to receive or facilitate the release and custody of the severed head on behalf of the Ahanta State.
Additionally, the plaintiffs want the court to bar the defendants from organizing, promoting or advertising AhantaFest, Ahanta Heritage Month, or any similar programme in a manner that suggests such events are sanctioned or endorsed by the Paramount Chief, the Ahanta Traditional Council or the Ahanta State without prior approval.
They are also praying the court to order the defendants to withdraw all advertisements, banners, flyers, posters, broadcast materials and social media publications implying that they are authorized to receive the severed head on behalf of the Ahanta State or organize AhantaFest as an official programme of the traditional authority.
The plaintiffs are further seeking costs, including solicitor’s professional fees, as well as any additional orders the court may deem appropriate. The defendants have been directed to enter an appearance within eight days after being served with the writ, failing which judgment may be entered against them in their absence.
The MP who is the first defendant in the suit is believed to have been served of the writ.
Meanwhile, The Chronicle can report that an action had earlier been filed at the Judicial Committee of the Western Regional House of Chiefs (WRHC) seeking to restrain plaintiff in the suit (Otumfuo Baidoo Bonsoe XVI) from styling himself as Otumfuo Baidoe Bonsoe XVI.
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