GONJA TRADITIONAL COUNCIL TO CONTEST HIGH COURT RULING (PAGE 46, JAN 27, 2011)

THE Gonja Traditional Council has served notice of its intention to contest the Tamale High Court ruling on the Buipe Skin at the Court of Appeal.
This is to enable it to seek justice on the matter in which the court ruled in favour of the Buipewura, Abdulai Jinapor, as the rightful occupant of the skin.
The council contended that it was not satisfied with the ruling, since the Yagbonwura, who is the Paramount Chief for the area, had the sole authority of enskinning and removing chiefs who were not loyal to him.
The council has, therefore, vowed to appeal against the ruling at the Appeals Court after their lawyers have studied details of the ruling.
This was contained in a press statement issued in Tamale on Monday and signed by 11 chiefs including the Yagbonwura.
It would be recalled that the Tamale High Court last week declared as null and void the deskinment of Abdulai Jinapor by the Yagbonwura, Tuntumba Borisa Sulemana Jakpa II, for gross insubordination in May last year.
The Buipewura later challenged the decision by the Yagbonwura, the Traditional Council and its registrar in the court.
Justice Kwame Ansu Gyeabour, who presided over the matter, upheld that the Buipewura could not be deskinned by the defendants because they were not the kingmakers for the skin.
The court also upheld the Buipewura’s argument that he was not given a fair hearing before the supposed deskinment and, therefore, awarded costs and general damages to the tune of GH¢6,400 against the defendants.
At the first ordinary meeting of the council at Damongo on May 13, 2010, an attempt was made to mediate in the case between the Buipewura and one of his alleged antagonists, Monowura Akwasi Piesie, who the former claimed to have deskinned for gross disrespect to his skin.
The mediation talks, however, turned acrimonious leading to heated verbal exchanges between the Buipewura and his loyalists on one side and the Yagbonwura and the other chiefs and their supporters on the other.
The Buipewura was alleged to have subsequently pulled out a gun and fired warning shots, a charge the Buipewura has since denied.
Following this development, the council declared its intention to destool the Buipewura for what they considered as insubordination and gross disrespect to the council members.
In a statement signed by the Yagbonwura and 12 other paramount chiefs of the Gonja Traditional Area at Damongo, the chiefs accused the Buipewura, Jinapor II Abdulai Mahama of “gross disrespect for the King of Gonja and the entire members of the Gonja Traditional Council.”