The headline in the Daily Graphic, one of Ghana’s best reputed newspapers, was revealing. “Peace at last”, it proclaimed across the front page. Which one of stable Ghana’s more turbulent neighbours could this refer to? But no, it was a domestic story about a protracted chieftaincy dispute in the country’s Eastern Region. The case, an attempted breakaway from the traditional local hierarchy, had gone through the highest courts in the land. As part of the settlement, the offending chief was to provide for a consignment of schnapps, the slaughter of 12 sheep and the burial of a previous office-holder who, by then, had been dead for five years.

Two points arise from this story. One is that conflicts in Ghana, when they happen, tend to be of a different order from those that afflict other parts of Africa. The other is that traditional patrimonial structures retain a particular importance alongside the trappings of a modern democratic state. Ghana’s establishment straddles both systems with disconcerting ease. You can find, say, a high-powered financial services consultant who doubles as a paramount chief, with all the deference, paraphernalia and land owning rights that go with the title. Some argue that the compromise between old and new is a factor of social cohesion that has helped recent governments push through unpopular measures. Others, including leading donor representatives and foreign investors, see it in some ways as a brake on the pace of change.