UNSETTLED ACCOUNTS - STOOL DEBTS, CHIEFTAINCY DISPUTES AND THE QUESTION OF ASANTE CONSTITUTIONALISM

During the early decades of colonial rule in Asante, the chronic indeb tedness of many stools was a source of recurrent friction and debate a mong colonial officials, chiefs and commoners, and a fertile source of chieftaincy disputes. Previous studies have attributed persistent sto ol debts to the break-down of traditional institutions, chiefly rent-s eeking under the auspices of indirect rule, and/or commercialization a nd emerging class conflict. This article argues that chieftaincy dispu tes may be also seen as part of a larger series of struggles to define and exercise legitimate authority in a society both transformed and d estabilized by the imposition of colonial rule, and views stool debts as the symptoms as much as the causes of such struggles. A case study of recurrent disputes over the stool of Kumawu between 1915 sand 1925 is presented to show how local struggles over chieftaincy and stool de bts re-shaped both official and scholarly interpretations of Asante 'c ustom', as well as trice versa. By the late 1930s, stool debts were re ceding as a bone of contention, but the struggles continued.