Asantehene opposes a provision of the New Lands Act that requires chiefs to be accountable.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, has rejected a portion of the Lands Act 2020 that allows citizens to sue chiefs in court over property deals.

The Act makes the traditional authority a fiduciary over lands and gives subjects the power to demand accountability for the use of land sale revenues.

However, at a conference between the Ashanti Region House of Chiefs and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Asantehene claimed that regions under his control are excluded from the Act's implementation.

In the Ashanti Region House of Chiefs' final meeting of the year, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, led a team from the Ministry to explain the new Lands Act.

This was done at the Council's request.

One of the main points raised was the new act's capacity to offer subjects control over land sales.

"According to the new Act, chiefs are stewards of the lands. They entrust it to them. As a result, even in court, their people can demand responsibility. Chiefs in many communities misappropriate land sale proceeds," Samuel Abu Jinapor explained.

The Asantehene, on the other hand, disagrees.

The Asante Kingdom, he claims, has its own mechanisms of responsibility for the sale of land held in trust for his office.

Any indication of traditional council mismanagement is referred to his office, he said, and appropriate action is taken.

"It is up to the elders of various chiefs to call for accountability, and that is where I come in." "In the kingdom, there is accountability, but not to any individual," he explained.

"Not everything printed here (the Act) is applicable to my area," the Asantehene stated emphatically. I placed chiefs and fetish in charge of the kingdom's territory. The chiefs have no responsibility to the kids."

The Asantehene calls for a reform of laws governing the country's mineral resources in order to ensure that profits are shared fairly.

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