ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the John Middleton and David Tait identified six African societies, including the Komkomba of Northern Ghana, the closest neighbours among the named societies to the Upper East Region (UER). In the light of current discourses in the area of decentralization and sustainable rural development in Africa, these indigenous systems of governance, which are still functioning in their respective rural communities in Ghana, be a good avenue for sustainable rural development. In Odotei's contribution to the book on Indigenous Political Structures and Governance in Africa, she clearly outlined the various encounters between the pre-colonial governing institutions of traditional societies (chieftaincy) in Africa and the modern system of governance with specific reference to Ghana. The most important thing to note is that governance in African societies is no longer dependent on the indigenous institutional structures and authorities, and their related religio-cultural value systems which are coded in taboos.
