The Ghanaian chieftaincy institution has provided a historical explanation for the terms paramount chief, stool, and enstoolment, according to Nana Okogyeedom Oheneba Ntim-Barimah, a Kwahu Tafo chief.
During the colonial era in Ghana, Oheneba Ntim-Barimah stated in an interview with One Ghana TV that the term "primordial chief" was created by the British to challenge the authority of the kings they encountered. This claim is not found in any dictionary worldwide.
In his view, the titles chief and paramount chief, which were imposed on them by the British, are incorrectly accepted by Ghana's traditional rulers, who are all kings.
The Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, claimed that there are no kings in Ghana. In response, the chief made these comments.
The Dormaahene and the other "paramount chiefs," he claimed, had "sadly" come to terms with the fact that they are not kings, despite the fact that the Dormaahene is a king in his own right.
"He is unaware that he is a king, even if he is one himself. The British did not want these kingdoms' leaders to be referred to as kings or queens like their monarchs were when they were colonising these states.
Therefore, they coined the phrase supreme chief to prevent us from referring to our monarchs as kings. Instead of being paramount chiefs or chiefs at all, all of our traditional rulers are kings. There is no connection between chiefs and the meaning of the word paramount, which is of the utmost importance or significance. He stated in Twi that there is no such thing as a paramount chief.
"Let me read what a distinguished scholar wrote. A paramount chief is the English-language term for the highest-ranking political official in a country or region that is governed by a chief-based system," he continued. The term "paramount chief" was formerly used in British colonies in Africa and was developed by British colonial administrators in the British Empire.
He restated that in order to ensure that only their monarch would be referred to as a king throughout their colonies, the British adopted the term "paramount chief" in place of the word "king."
Oheneba Ntim-Barimah added that the British had denigrated the authority of the monarchy they had come to confront by referring to the Gold Coast's monarchs' seat as a "stool."
Any monarch's seat is referred to as a throne, not a stool. The fact that our historic rulers' seats are referred to as "stools" saddens me the most; it is a great dishonour. To demonstrate that their monarch had power over ours, they purposefully used the word stool—the place where their king rested his feet while perched on his throne—to refer to our rulers' seat.
"Enthronement, not enstoolment, is the term used to describe the installation of a king; the word is nonexistent and not found in any dictionary worldwide," he continued.
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"Enthronement, not enstoolment, is the term used to describe the installation of a king; the word is nonexistent and not found in any dictionary worldwide," he continued.
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