Role of chiefs in Ghanaian politics

Sorry for going dark for a few days, but I haven’t had much free time. I am in Ghana looking into its draft decentralization policy. One of the big issues is whether chiefs ought to have a more formal role in local politics in Ghana through being able to appoint councilors to the district assembly. While chiefs have a lot of legitimacy in Ghana, my astute research assistant thinks its because they don’t have political power. She is slowly convincing me that the surest way to reduce the good image Ghanaians have of chiefs is to drag them into local politics. Off to Volta Region tomorrow and Central Region tomorrow to meet with some chiefs and get their opinion.