A grand durbar of chiefs and people of Woeto-Anyako in the Keta Municipality of the Volta Region has been held at Anyako Kpota to climax a series of activities marking the 20th anniversary of the enstoolment of Togbi Kposegee IV of Woeto-Anyako. The celebrant is also the Head of the Likee Clan.
The event was witnessed by a large number of chiefs and queenmothers, friends and family members as well as guests from far and near including delegations from Lome-Togo. Among the dignitaries that graced the occasion were the Awadada of the Anlo State, Torgbui Agbesi Awusu II who represented the Overlord and Awoamefia of the Anlo State, Torgbui Sri III as well as Paramount Chief of the Gwira Traditional Area and Vice President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, Awulae Angama Tu-Agyan II who led a high-powered delegation to the anniversary event. The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Keta Constituency, Hon. Dzudzorli Kwame Gakpey was also present.
The anniversary durbar which was under the theme, ‘Unity, Peace, Development and Quality Education’, saw the grounds-breaking for the construction of a three (3)-unit classroom block for the Anlo Awoamefia (A.A.Fia) Senior High School (ANYASCO) at Anyako Kpota. The legacy initiative is to address some of the pressing infrastructural challenges the school has been facing over the years.
The event saw the display of one of the rich cultural heritage and traditions of the chiefs and people of the Anlo State in the area of dance, dress, and other forms of culture to the admiration of the hundreds of guests who were there to grace the occasion. The Mawufenuse Choral Choir from Lome-Togo was also in attendance to provide melodious songs for the occasion.
The 20th anniversary celebration of the enstoolment of Togbi Kposegee IV also saw the complete renovation of the Royal Kposegee Palace at Anyako which is not only a major fishing community in the Keta Municipality but also a key community in the Anlo State Chieftaincy scheme of things.
The Administrator of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, Mr. Harry Attipoe, who delivered the keynote address on some chieftaincy issues at the function, cautioned citizens and members of royal stools across the country against using what he described as forceful and authorized means to de-stool chiefs and queen mothers. According to him, the days when some persons forcefully ambushed their chief, removed his sandals and subsequently poured libation amidst the slaughtering of rams in the name of de-stooling such a chief, are gone, explaining that such persons in recent times would be imprisoned when apprehended.
Mr. Attipoe emphasized that apart from the legal procedure to de-stool chiefs and queen mothers as provided in the Chieftaincy Act, such traditional rulers can only be de-stooled on grounds of abdication and death, urging royal stool members to take note of some of these provisions in the law before embarking on their actions.
Touching on the installation of chiefs, the Administrator reminded the chiefs that no chief can single-handedly install himself as a chief, explaining that such a role is the preserve of kingmakers.
According to Mr. Attipoe, Article 279 of the Chieftaincy Act also states that before one becomes a chief, he must come from a royal lineage in addition to being nominated, selected, confined, outdoored, and installed as a chief. He disclosed that Ghana has two (2) systems of inheritance, which are patrilineal and matrilineal. Some stools are also rotational while others are not, adding that installing one as a chief does not make the entire process complete.
He advised the chiefs and queen mothers to ensure that they were also gazetted to gain the government’s recognition. The House of Chiefs Administrator backed his assertion with the Chieftaincy Act 57 (5) which states that a person shall not be recognized as a chief unless his name is entered into the national register of chiefs as well as the national bulletin of chiefs. ‘It is only then that you can gain government recognition as a chief or queen mother’, Mr. Attipoe emphasized.
The Special Guest of Honour was the Paramount Chief of the Gwira Traditional Area and Vice President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, Awulae Angama Tu-Agyan II. He described the country’s unity and peace accolade as amazing, saying Ghanaians should be commended for the protection of the country’s peace over the years, which has been secured through hard work, inter-marriages and visits, and more importantly respect for one another’s cultural values and traditions. According to him, what is left now is development.
Awulae Angama Tu-Agyan II described the theme of the celebration as unique and commended Togbi Kposegee IV for his modest achievements over the years and vision for Anyako-Woeto including his educational legacy project being the construction of the school block for ANYASCO.
The celebrant, Togbi Kposegee IV was grateful to all and sundry for the support he had received from the people over the years, saying ensuring sanitation and the provision of quality education have been some of his hallmarks over the period. According to him, his first community development project when installed in October 2003, was to ensure good sanitation for the Woeto-Anyako environment. To this end, in collaboration with the late Mr. Paul Kofi Amenya, a Sanitation Committee was formed and implements and equipment for members of the committee were procured for use in keeping the Woeto community clean.
He described the legacy three (3) unit classroom block project for the A.A. Fia Senior High School as a social public project for the education of both the present and future generations of the youth of the area and the country at large. Togbi Kposegee IV said he has not taken off his eyes on his 2018 initiative to construct a Science Laboratory for the school in collaboration with a group from the United States of America (USA) which was later aborted due to the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the entire world around the 2020s.
Togbi Kposegee IV announced that one of the biggest changes that hit his reign was the ordination of a new Fiator for the Kposegee Royal Stool in October 2022, recounting that it was the same day he was scandalized at a colorful ceremony at Anloga, supervised by the Awadada of Anlo, Torgbui Agbesi Awusu II. He added that the inauguration of a new Council of Stool Elders and Patrons for the Royal Stool has been positive and dramatic for his reign and stressed the need for other chiefs to emulate the same, saying it is beneficial.
Earlier in his welcome address, Fiator of the Royal Kposegee Stool, Mr. Anthony Jim-Fugar said the occasion was organized not only as a prelude to the 25th anniversary of Togbi Kposegee IV but also as a wake-up call for the stool to get more actively involved in community development projects such as the 3-unit classroom block for ANYASCO.
The event, he said would be used among other things to create awareness for research and to document the history of the Kposegee Royal family and allied Stools as well as the Likee Clan of Anlo to preserve the true history for the current and future generations. The celebration would also be used to establish a platform that would speak for enhanced cooperation and collaboration with all chiefs at Woeto-Anyako, Anyako itself, and the Anlo Traditional Area as a whole, to provide a formalized and united leadership of chiefs for the social and economic development of all the towns and villages in the area.
The Awadada of the Anlo State, Torgbui Agbesi Awusu II, speaking on behalf of the Awoamefia, Torgbui Sri III, lauded Togbi Kposegee IV for his modest achievement over the years as Fia of Woeto-Anyako, adding that his contribution towards the overall development of the Anlo State cannot be over-emphasized. He was hopeful that Togbe Kposegee’s school project at the A.A.Fia SHS would go a long way to reverse the falling standards of education not only in the area but also across the entire Anlo State.
Torgbui Duklui Attipoe V of Anyako who spoke on leadership and its impact on the people and development, described Togbi Kposeggee IV as instrumental in the development of Anyako and its environs and called for more support for the celebrant to do more for Anyako-Woeto in particular and the Anlo State in general.
One of the side attractions at the event was the inauguration and outdooring of a seventeen (17)-member Council of Elders and Patrons of the Kposegee Royal Stool. They comprised fourteen (14) males and three (3) females. This was after the Council Members were decorated with wrist and neck beads by Togbi Kposegee IV.
The Council Members and Patrons included Fiator Anthony Jim-Fugar, Mama Loye III, Mr. Emmanuel Dodzi Kobla Adugu, Dr. Harry Kpornu-Dawson, Madam Mawusi Ameyibor, Mr. Nicholas Glikpo and Agbotadua Dzahano. The others were Mr. Godwyll Jiagge, Mr. Xose Jiagge, Mr. Dan Fiagbedzi, and Mr. Seth Kenneth Kobla Dotse. The rest were Mr. Michael K. Ackabah, Mr. Thomas Henyo, Mr. John Fiakegbe, Mr. Jacob Adorkor (Tokormega) as well as Mr. Reuben Kwadzo Fiakpornu (Tsiami for Togbi Kposegee IV).
Spokesperson for the Council, Mr. Jacob Adorkor described Togbi Kposegee of old as a great warrior and spiritualist who led the Anlos to war and defeated a host of adversaries.
According to him, the war presently is against poverty, development, and a war to move one’s community forward. Mr. Adorkor noted that developmental issues of unavailability of potable water for the citizens of Anyako, sanitation issues, unemployment, and challenges in educational issues still linger on in the Anyako community.
He pledged his support and that of the entire Council membership towards the realization of the mission and vision of Togbi Kposegee IV for Anyako-Woeto and its environs. ‘We have the faith, belief, and trust in you that you will continue to lead us to overcome the above challenges as you have already done in the past in the areas of lighting the night skies of Anyako-Woeto, by providing streetlights which you, yourself participated in installing’, Mr. Adorkor indicated.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the three-unit classroom block facility for the Anyako A.A.Fia SHS was jointly performed by Togbi Kposegee IV and Awulae Angama Tu-Agyan II with the support of other chiefs and queen mothers as well as stakeholders of education from far and near.
The Headmaster of the school, Mr. Gilbert Sudah Agbavor was grateful to Togbi Kposegee IV for the laudable classroom block initiative and gesture, noting that the support would go a long way to augment the acute infrastructural challenges facing the school.
He stressed the need for other stakeholders of education in the area, particularly the citizens of Anyako both at home and abroad, to emulate the shining example of Togbi Kposegee IV by taking up the other pressing issues bedeviling the only second cycle institution for the chiefs and people of Anyako.
Togbi Kposegee IV of Anyako-Woeto was born on 1st October 1959 at Anyako to Mr. Lucas Anani Kobla Henyo, the 12th son of Togbi Kposegee III. The mother was Madam Mevemeo Benedicta Esi Kusorgbor (Deceased) of the Kusorgbor family of Anyako. Togbi Kposegee IV is a full-fledged electrical engineer, who earned his Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the State University in Niamey, Niger between 1980 and 1983 after leaving Ghana for that country in 1980.
