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THE FORMER Vice President of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs and Omanhene of Yeji, Penampem Yaw Kagbrese II, has been elected as the new President of the House to lead the house for the next four years. Pemanpem Kagbrese polled 25 votes to beat his contender Agyewodin Prof. Adu Gyamfi Ampem, Omanhene of Acherensua Traditional Area, who secured seven votes in the election. Nana Bofobene Gyeabour, the Dwenemanhene secured 18 votes to become the Vice President beating Nana Fosu Gyeabour Akoto II, Paramount Chief of Bechem who obtained 13 votes. After the elections three other paramount chiefs, Nana Ansah Adu Baah of Yamfo, Nana Kwame Korang II of Awuah-Dumase, and Osahene Kwaku Aterkyi II, Kukuomhene, the immediate past President of the House were elected to represent the house at the National House of Chiefs. Penampem Kagbrese thanked the chiefs for the honour accorded him and pledged to work with the staff as a team to move the house of chiefs forward. He also called for cooperation and advice from the chiefs so as to succeed. He urged the chiefs to remain united and preach peace in their various areas in the upcoming general elections. The immediate past President of the House, Osahene Kwaku Aterkyi, in his opening remarks, he disclosed that their inability to complete the offices of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs and the deplorable state of the Centre for National Culture (CNC) in Sunyani made it impossible for the celebration of the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC). He has therefore called on the National and Regional Planning Committee of the NAFAC to look at their problem and solve it for them before next year�s celebration. He disclosed that judicial cases pending before the house as at the end of his tenure of office were 52, with 44 petitions and eight appeals. He therefore called on the new president and his vice to work on judicial committee cases pending before the house so that absolute peace would prevail in the affected traditional areas. The former president mentioned that during his term of office he made several attempts to settle some cases out of court by the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism (ADRM) but his efforts did not yield the needed result. �It is regrettable to note that after parties had been met and settlement arrived at, the party found faulty would usually resort to the law courts to have the decision of the mediation committee quashed,� he lamented. On the upcoming elections, the president mentioned that Ghana has gone through several elections which had ended peacefully and successfully to the admiration of the entire world so this election should not be different. He called on the chiefs to play their roles as traditional leaders by educating their subjects to be very careful not to engage in any political activities that could bring conflicts in their traditional areas. �It is my plea to all to avoid unguarded and intemperate statements that are likely to create trouble and disturbances that may derail the positive gains we have made as a country in our political history,� he said.