Chieftaincy, Collective Interests and the Dagomba New Elite

The politics, economics and cultures of Ghana, ¹ like elsewhere in Africa, cannot be adequately understood unless traditional authority is taken into account. As Vaughan argues, throughout Africa chieftaincy structures are significant both for their ideological content and “because they are a key arena for the dynamic interplay between state and communal structures.” ² Moreover, succession to chiefly office can be complicated by competing histories that generate competing genealogies. ³ In Ghana, chieftaincy is symbolized by the right to sit on the stool in the South or on the skin in the North, and the Constitution guarantees the institution of chieftaincy as established by customary law and usage. Regardless, during the precolonial and colonial periods when there was no constitution, and postindependence when there has been, groups or governments have interfered with the workings of chieftaincy.