The Chief of Bongo – A lawyer without a portfolio.

There are always travel experiences that leave you with a wonderful feeling and meeting the Chief of Bongo was just one of those experiences.Chief Babasalifa (Bonaba) is chief of 40 villages in this upper region of Ghana. He was in fact Ibrahims brother (the owner of Green House Lodge – previous post) and uncle to Ganu who took me to visit him. The family are descended from King Nagalmi. As in the Ashanti Kingdom the chiefdom can only be passed to blood relatives like a brother or a nephew meaning in real terms that Ganu could one day be the chief.

We spent a lovely half hour here. He lives in a beautiful residence in Bongo.

The chief has a raised seating area under an awning.. He basically deals with disputes among the many villagers that come under his chiefdom. He described himself as a lawyer without a portfolio. Obviously some disputes do go to a higher authority like a court.

As is tradition we took some cola nuts as a small gift which you simply place next to him together with a very small donation when you leave.

He was a real gentleman and visiting him was one of the highlights of my trip to Ghana.If you ever read this “It was a pleasure to meet you”.

Tinyteddy’s feedback: A lot of people don’t take me seriously but not the chief. I got a private audience with him, admittedly it was short, but we had a lovely chat. I had some issues and no I will not say what they were. That stays between me and the chief. He’ll know what I mean” .