Incarceration of chiefs: A colonial and post-colonial tool for the destruction of the sanctity of the chieftaincy institution in Ghana?

Abstract

Using predominantly primary historical documents, supplemented by the appropriate secondary historical records, this paper examines political detention or the incarceration of chiefs as a measure or a tool employed by both colonial and post-colonial authorities to weaken and to eventually destroy the chieftaincy institution in Ghana. The paper evaluates the circumstances leading to the arrest and detention of the chiefs who suffered such fate. It analyses the socio-cultural impact of such detentions on the paramountcies affected and on the institution of chieftaincy in Ghana as a whole. Based on the findings of the study, the paper concludes that under both colonial and the immediate post-colonial eras, a big blow was dealt to the institution of chieftaincy in Ghana which helped shrink the power and status of the institution in the country.