Our Courts, Our Cases and we are the Judges”: Chiefs as Judges in the House of Chiefs in Ghana

Abstract

Besides the Supreme Court, The Traditional Councils and the Houses of Chiefs are the official courts mandated by Ghana’s 1992 Republican Constitution to and the Chieftaincy Act, 2008 (Act 759) to adjudicate and determine the substance of chieftaincy succession disputes. The Houses of Chiefs serves as customary courts but have over the years incorporated certain aspects of the English law into their proceedings. Through the historical method, interviews and observations, this paper explores the role of chiefs as judges in Ghana’s Houses of Chiefs. The paper first takes a historical view of the Houses of Chiefs, starting from chieftaincy court (native courts in colonial Ghana), and then after Ghana’s independence in 1957, when the Houses of Chiefs system was formed. The second part of the paper deals with the structure and the judicial processes in the contemporary Houses of chiefs. The key finding of this study is that the Houses of Chiefs in Ghana are courts adjudicating on chieftaincy disputes with the chiefs sitting as judges in theses courts. However, the dependency of these courts on the state for funds and support personnel has implications on the judicial processes, and possibly, the rulings of these courts.