Challenges of the Collaboration between Formal Local Government Actors and the Chieftaincy Institution in Ghana: Lessons from the Sissala East District of the Upper West Region of Ghana
Tanko Daniel Dawda, Frederick Dapilah

Abstract
The Chieftaincy institution has been an important arm of local governance since colonial times. The British colonial policy used the chieftaincy structure in implementing an indirect-rule system of governance. However, the chieftaincy institution has had varying roles in local governance in post-independent Ghana. The study examined the nature of collaboration between the chieftaincy institution and formal local government actors in the Sissala-East District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. To do this, the study employed techniques such as questionnaire administration, interviewing and focus group discussions to gather data for analysis. Written documents were also relied upon in the development of the study. The results show that, notwithstanding the constitutional limitations on chiefs not to take part in active partisan politics, chiefs have collaborated with local and formal local government actors to bring development to their people in the areas of infrastructural development, dispute resolution, revenue mobilisation, good governance and the management of natural resources. However, there exist challenges that do not bode well for collaboration between the District Assembly system and chiefs. The lack of a direct role of chiefs in Ghana’s local government structure has been identified as a challenge to the collaboration between chiefs and formal local government actors. The study concludes that, by their various roles, chiefs have collaborated in numerous ways to bring development to their areas and recommends that in order to enhance their contribution to local level development, efforts should be garnered to give chiefs a formal recognition in the current decentralised system to make way for effective collaboration between chiefs and formal local government actors.

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