@themmasked: IF NAMOALIGO’S SKIN IS OLDER, HOW DID TONGO BECOME THE PARAMOUNTCY? This story is for educational purposes, to help us understand our traditional history. We respect all chiefs and communities and welcome factual corrections. Let us discuss our shared heritage with respect and unity. Can one skin be older while another holds the paramountcy? This question sits at the heart of the debate about Namoaligo and Tongo. To understand it, we must distinguish between the age of a skin, its customary seniority and its recognised rank. Tongo’s chiefly tradition traces its ancestry to Mamprugu through an ancestor remembered as Musuor. That connection helps explain the Nayiri’s role in the selection and enskinment of the Tongraan. But the history contains a detail that many people may not know. In a publicly reported response to the Tongraan in 2020, the Nayiri stated that his predecessors elevated the Tongo skin to paramountcy. He also explained that Tongo had previously been under the enskinment authority of the Kuru-Naba. In that same response, the Nayiri described the skins of Namoalug, Nungu, Bapela, Tolla and Digaare as traditionally senior to Tongo. These statements explain how customary seniority and paramount rank can coexist. An elevation changes a skin’s recognised position; it does not erase the history of older skins. British colonial administration also influenced the structure of chiefly authority in Talensiland. Officials reorganised chiefs and communities into administrative arrangements, adding another layer to relationships already shaped by ancestry and custom. However, the records available to me do not establish the exact year of Tongo’s elevation or the particular Nayiri who authorised it. That gap deserves further research. We should leave room for evidence rather than fill it with an invented date. So, why Tongo instead of Namoaligo? The account above explains who the Nayiri credited with the elevation. It does not establish the precise reasons Tongo was chosen over Namoaligo. Answering that fully requires the original records and carefully examined accounts from the traditional authorities. What we can understand is this: Tongo’s paramount status and Namoaligo’s traditional seniority are not automatically contradictory. Each concerns a different part of our history. Our chiefs, elders and royal families have an opportunity to help the younger generation understand these distinctions. Bringing forward records and explaining our customs can turn a heated argument into a valuable history lesson. We owe our children a history they can understand and a community they can inherit in peace. What account did your elders pass down about Tongo’s elevation? Share it respectfully, and make clear whether it comes from oral tradition or a written record. THE MASKED — Let us learn our history and respect one another.@L2L PODCAST 🎙 🎤 @MOLIBHEST STUDIOS

THE MASKED

Open In TikTok:

Region: GH

Sunday 08 November 2026 00:43:53 GMT