Mahama's "Hohoe Promise" Not Gabusu's House; It's A Palace For The Paramountcy.

On his Oct 19 trip to Hohoe, as part of his 

campaign tour of the Volta Region, 

President Mahama, while going over a list of promises for the area, stated that his administration was set to repair and restore the chief's "palace."

But as Gbi Viwo noted, the president's statement, which painted the picture of a building that needs fixing, generated headlines that pointed to the paramount chief's property that got destroyed by arsonist in 2012. The problem is, the said building has already been reconstructed by government.

The news attracted a barrage of questions which generated a heated debate among Gbi Viwo and members of the Ghanaian public.

Response by the president's office to Gbi Viwo's call for clarification of the matter is that the president's characterization of the project in question was a slip.

What President Mahama meant to say, the response confirms, is his government's preparedness to implement recommendations by the Mills administration in response to the Hohoe conflict of 2012 – part of which is to build a palace for the Gbi Traditional Area.  

In 1992, a rainstorm destroyed the structure that used to be the palace for the Gbi
Traditional Area. The Gbi Traditional Council now occupies the location of the old palace and a new location was set for a brand new construction.  

For many years, Togbega Gabusu VI has resided in a private house which the media and government officials have consistently mislabeled as a "palace."

Following the conflict between members of Hohoe-Zongo and the rest of the Gbi community four years ago, which saw Gabusu's residence go down in flames – a deadly clash that resulted from events following a disagreement on the final resting place of an Imam – the safety of the paramount chief came into serious question. As a result, the Mills government, in addition to its promise to rebuild the chief's private residence, thought it necessary to build a palace for the paramountcy. 

The conflict was successfully resolved through government mediation and peace has long been restored in Hohoe.

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Annette Herrmann-Condobrey