Strong opposition has emerged from sections of the James Town traditional leadership over the announced general traditional council meeting scheduled for Friday, January 30, 2026, at the Boxing Arena (Mudor Press Hall), with critics questioning the legitimacy and customary authority behind the proposed gathering.
Although a statement from the Office of the Ngleshie Alata Paramount Stool announced the meeting as being convened in the name of the Ngleshie Alata Traditional Area under the authority of Prince Asharku Bruce Quaye, traditional sources insist that the meeting lacks the required customary foundation and authority and should not be recognized as a legitimate traditional council sitting because Prince Asharku Bruce Quaye is not clothed with the powers to call for a stakeholder meetings , stressing he not the Chief for James Town.
According to these sources, Nii Akonta Kojo III, the kingmaker of the James Town Paramount Stool, is the one who possess the customary mandate to convene or participate in meetings relating to chieftaincy, customs, or tradition and because he has enstooled any one by the name Prince Aharku Bruce Quaye, he cannot arrogate to himself powers he does not have. They maintained that under Ga custom, such a failure strips an individual of the ritual and moral authority required to summon traditional stakeholders.
The sources further disclosed that the Dzassetse Nii Okpe of the Paramount Stool, who holds primary responsibility for enstoolment matters, has categorically stated that they have not enstooled any James Town by name Prince Asharku otherwise known as Wetse Kojo II has been destooled as a sub-chief by his own family, rendering his claim to the paramount stool invalid.
They also dismissed Bruce-Quaye’s adoption of the stool title “Wetse Kojo II,” explaining that the original Wetse Kojo Henry George Vanderpuye was installed in 1939, making any legitimate successor the third to bear that title. They stressed that Ga traditional law clearly separates the roles of those who enstool from those who disengage chiefs, and that any attempt to bypass these processes constitutes a violation of established custom.
They argued that while any individual may hold a private or personal meeting, any gathering that purports to deliberate on chieftaincy, tradition, or customary governance must be convened strictly by persons who are ritually clean and properly authorized. On this basis, they have issued a strong call for all traditional stakeholders to boycott what they described as an illegitimate and improperly constituted meeting if it proceeds under the guise of a traditional council session.
The sources further emphasized that Naa Afrimpong IIII remains the only recognized queen mother empowered to convene meetings involving other queen mothers, and that only Dzassei Nii Okpe and Nii Akonta Kojo are customarily clothed with the authority to summon traditional meetings within the Ngleshie Alata Traditional Area.
The sources warned that participation in meetings convened outside established customary authority could attract serious traditional consequences, often referred to as being “judged by prosperity.”
The dispute has deepened existing tensions within the Ngleshie Alata Traditional Area and, according to the dissenting traditional authorities, reflects a growing disregard for Ga customary law, ritual order, and the integrity of chieftaincy governance in James Town.