The Asere Stool Priest, Nii Aflah Kwei III, last Friday told the Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs that the right traditional and customary officials who should enstool a Ga Mantse did not enstool King Tackie Tawiah III, known in private life as Dr Jo Blankson, as the Ga Mantse. He said Dr. Blankson's name was also not given to the Abola Dzasetse, who he said provided the name of the ruling house whose turn it was to provide a candidate for the position of Ga Mantse for approval. Nii Kwei is a witness for Nii Owula Kpakpa Blofonyo, the Ga State Akwashong Mantse, who has filed a suit at the Judicial Committee claiming that King Tackie Tawiah was not properly installed. The plaintiff, a principal elder of the Asere Stool, had stated that the installation of King Tackie Tawiah did not follow Ga customs, practices and usage. Joined in the suit against the Ga Mantse are Nii Akropong III, the Head of the Teiko Tsuru We, and Numo Tete III, also known as Nai Wulomo, for the roles they played during the installation of King Tackie Tawiah. This has however, been rejected by King Tackie Tawiah's defence team, who say that the Ga Mantse was properly installed and went through the right customary rites. Nii Kwei, who was led by counsel for Nii Blofonyo, Mr A.G. Boadu, explained that when a Ga Mantse died, five families - Anunsa We, Abbeytse We, Ayele Mona We, Amartse We and Tsokunaa We - went to the Akwashongtse's house and informed him of the death of the king. The Akwashongtse, he said, would also call the Shipi, Asafoatsemei and elders and inform them, after which he would send a message of the death of the king to the Abola Dzasetse and ask him (Abola Dzasetse) to tell them the next ruling house whose turn it was to provide a candidate and the name. He said when the next ruling house and the candidate were provided to the Akwashongtse, he (Akwashongtse) then called the Shipi, Asafoatsemei and elders and announced the name of the candidate to them. He said at midnight after the name had been accepted, customary rites were performed by the Sakumo Wulomo, the Asere Mantse, the Asere Sen Wulomo, the Gbese Sen Wulomo and the Gbese Mantse, who would also inform the chiefs of Ada, Akuapem and Odumasi about the customary rites to be performed. Nii Kwei said the traditional officials were the ones who performed the rites for the Ga Mantse and that in the case of King Tackie Tawiah that was not done. After performing the customary rites, he said, the Sakumo Wulomo then prayed for the candidate, after which the Asere Sen Wulomo adorned the head of the Ga Mantse three times with the Adowa Fai (hat), adding that it was then that the Ga State would know that a Ga Mantse had been installed. Following that, he said, the Ga Mantse would then go to Amugi Naa. Asked by Mr Boadu about the words the Asere Wulomo said when he adorned the Ga Mantse's head with the Adowa Fai, Nii Kwei responded, "Today, we install you as the Ga Mantse." When counsel asked Nii Kwei whether he, as the Asere Stool Wulomo, adorned King Tackie Tawiah's head with the Adowa Fai, Nii Kwei said no. He added that neither Nii Akropong nor the Nai Wulomo had the power to install a Ga Mantse when counsel asked him whether the two had the power to do so. Asked by the lead defence counsel, Mr Willie Amarfio, whether he (Nii Kwei) knew the petitioner, Nii Blofonyo, the witness said Nii Blofonyo was the Ga State Akwashong Mantse and the Asere Akwashongtse. When Mr. Amarfio put it to him that there was no position as Asere Akwashongtse, Nii Kwei disagreed, saying that it was not true. The witness denied Mr Amarfio's assertion that he had come to testify about things he did not know. Although he (Nii Kwei) agreed with defence counsel that as of June 2006 there was no Asere Mantse, Gbese Mantse and Abola Mantse for Boni Nii Amugi's death to be reported to them, he said there was an acting Dzasetse, as well as elder, who could take charge in the absence of those chiefs. During proceedings, the President of the Regional House of Chiefs, Nene Tette Otu, advised supporters of the parties involved in the case to comport themselves whenever they attended the proceedings. He said chieftaincy matters were serious, since people could go to the extent of using juju in such matters. That was after counsel for King Tackie Tawiah, Mr Amarfio, had raised concerns about what he said were comments by supporters of the opposing side who attended proceedings. He also accused Nii Kwei of threatening him. However, Mr Boadu told the committee that as far as he was concerned, those who attended the proceedings at Dodowa were well-behaved, compared to other chieftaincy cases he had been part of. Meanwhile, giving his evidence-in-chief in another suit challenging the legitimacy of King Tackie Tawiah, Squadron Leader George Tagoe told the committee that there was a laid down procedure by which the ruling house whose turn it was to provide a Ga Mantse was known. Led by his lawyer, Mr Charles Puozing, Sqn Leader Tagoe said after the death of Nii Amugi the next ruling house was Abola Piam. Source: Daily Graphic