THE QUESTION OF DUAL CHIEFTAINCY IN GHANA: THE CASE OF ODOMASE-SUNYANI

This paper is a study of the establishment of the dual chieftaincy system in Odomase in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana. The study reveals that the earliest people of Odomase comprised mainly migrants from the kingdom of Denkyira and Asante. These people practiced single chieftaincy but to justify their claim to ultimate custodianship of the Odumase land, leaders of the two Divisions invented complex traditions of origins to claim autochthony. Despite the problems dual chieftaincy posed to traditional societies in Ghana, the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government of Ghana through a decree endorsed the two Odomase chiefs to rule concurrently as Paramount Chiefs. Why would two chiefs be allowed to rule a single traditional state? In what ways did struggles between the two chieftaincies affect residents of the Odomase traditional state? What role did governments play in legitimizing the dual chieftaincy practice in Odomase? What did the peoples of the two Divisions seek to achieve apart from claims to land? The study sought answers to these questions by using archival data, information from dissertations and responses from interviewees. It examined the basis for legitimizing the dual chieftaincy practice in Odomase-Sunyani in the twentieth century. This methodology was necessary for the cross-checking of oral tradition with existing documentary sources. The paper argues that the legitimization of the dual chieftaincy system in Odomase was the best decision to ensure peaceful co-existence between the Antepim and the Bosomtwe Divisions.