The twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi, in the west of Ghana close to the border with Cote D’Ivoire are our final stop in the country. Until the port of Tema, east of Accra was built in the 1960’s, the “twin cities” were Ghana’s main port both for trade and commercial fishing. These days, the cities are pretty run down with very little appeal. Sekondi is still a fishing port and there are some signs that perhaps things will pick up again as a vast reserve of oil has been discovered just off the coast, in Ghana’s section of the Gulf of Guinea. We make a stop at the fishing harbour. But it's Tuesday and for reasons that are never made entirely clear, there's no fishing on Tuesdays!
So it's off to the main event. We have been granted an audience with HH Nana Kobina Nketsia V, the Paramount Chief of the Essikado Traditional Area in the Western Region of Ghana. We're brought to his "palace", a large multi-level mansion in a residential section of Sekondi. An awning, under which several rows of chairs, has been erected in the front garden and while we eagerly await the arrival of the Paramount Chief, we're entertained by some vigorous drumming and two rather large dancing ladies. We're informed that it's traditional to "tip" the ladies for their performance by attaching banknotes - any currency, any denomination - to some part of their body or clothing. Sounds suspiciously like another "tradition" borrowed from the west!
The front door of the "palace" opens and the Chief appears, preceded by his "interpreter" carrying the symbolic staff of office and surrounded by his entourage. We stand as instructed as the Chief takes his place on a throne (the "stool") placed on the palace's verandah. We're told that by tradition, the Chief does not address individuals directly nor is he spoken to directly. Everything goes through the "interpreter" or in our case, two interpreters as our guide needs to translate for the Chief's "interpreter"!
Through all of this, the Chief smiles and laughs for a few minutes before making clear that on this occasion, he'll do away with the interpreters and interact with us directly. This he then proceeds to do in flowing, eloquent and almost accent-less English. Chief Nana Kobina Nketsia V it turns out is a highly educated (he has a PhD in African history), well-traveled man with extensive board-level experience in a variety of different enterprises both in the public and private sectors. He inherited his position from a maternal uncle - matrilineal inheritance apparently being quite usual in this part of the world based on the idea that there is no doubt who your mother is. Who your father may or may not be is another matter entirely! The "Queen Mother" - in this case, actually the Chief's mother and the sister of the previous chief - is a very powerful and influential person. Although not in this photo, she did appear later and placed herself at the Chief's right side displacing another of his court.
The Chief's position is largely ceremonial now that Ghana is a democratic country with an elected president who can serve a maximum of two four-year terms and a parliament of elected members. In many respects though, Ghana is still a very tradition and tribal-based country and each of the Paramount Chiefs is a highly respected leader of his area and community. The Chief can and does lobby the President and parliament on behalf of his community and his views and opinions, which are deliberately non-partisan, carry much weight
For a couple of hours, the Chief speaks and answers questions from our group with a remarkable degree of tact and diplomacy - even when one woman from Los Angeles asks for his opinion of Donald Trump! Many of his responses were surprisingly philosophical and perhaps among the Chief's strengths is an ability to seem not to dodge or avoid a question, but to be able to respond in a way that at least gave the impression of not trying to dodge.
A fascinating and insightful couple of hours....!!