SC@150: The Colonial and Post-Independence Tensions Between Chieftaincy and Modern Courts
History has recorded tension between the institution of chieftaincy and Ghana’s modern court system.
Its evolution dates back to colonial rule through to the post-independence era.
Speaking at the second lecture of the Judiciary’s series marking the 150th Anniversary of the Supreme Court on July 16, 2026, the King of the Asante Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, said the two systems of authority often “run uneasily alongside one another.”
“Long before the first colonial courtroom was built on our shores, the institution of chieftaincy stood as the principal organ of governance, justice, and social order among our peoples,” His Majesty stated.
His Majesty said traditional leaders, at the time, were supreme priest, judge, custodian of land, and symbol of continuity between the living, the dead, and the yet unborn.
According to His Majesty, disputes were traditionally settled “beneath the great tree, before the stool or the skin, through processes that prized reconciliation over retribution and community harmony over the vindication of narrow legal rights.”
His Majesty said the advent of colonial rule introduced English common law and a hierarchy of courts, with the Supreme Court eventually becoming the apex.
“For much of our colonial history, these two streams often ran uneasily alongside one another,” His Majesty noted. “Chieftaincy was, at various turns, courted and co-opted through indirect rule, yet it also had its judicial functions curtailed and its authority made to answer to a foreign sovereign and foreign law.”
Otumfuo said independence in 1957 did not resolve the tension but inherited it, with successive Constitutions grappling with where chieftaincy belonged in a modern constitutional order.
His Majesty cited specific instances where political actors sought to sideline chieftaincy.
“It is a matter of record that chieftaincy has, at different moments in our post-independence history, been sidelined by political actors who saw it as a rival centre of authority,” His Majesty said.
“Laws were enacted to de-recognise persons who, under customary law and usage, had been installed as chiefs. In the same vein, enactments were made to recognise persons as chiefs when they were not, by customary law and usage, qualified as such.”
Despite the interventions, His Majesty said the institution has endured as its authority comes from the people and custom, not from statute.
The Asantehene noted that the 1992 Constitution marked the decisive turning point in this long history.
“Article 270 guarantees the institution of chieftaincy, together with its traditional councils, as established by customary law and usage, and expressly forecloses Parliament from legislating in a manner that detracts from or derogates from the honour and dignity of the institution.”
Story by Hajara Fuseini
Click to read more: https://opemsuo.com/author/hajara-fuseini/
