Government Will Campaign In Referendum On New Regions – Minister

The government said it will not campaign in the upcoming referendum for the creation of six new regions of the country.

"The government is not part of the campaign, the government will not invest money to campaign for people to vote YES or not," Regional Reorganization Minister Daniel Kwaku Botwe stressed on Wednesday's Burning Issues program.

according to Daniel Kwaku Botwe, the power to determine the creation of the region is entirely in the hands of the inhabitants of areas that require re-demarcations.

The Electoral Commission, which is organizing the referendum, received a new impetus after the go-ahead of the Supreme Court to hold the referendum after launching a judicial challenge.

The Supreme Court applicants had requested that the EC allow all residents of a region designated for a demarcation to participate in the referendum in order to eventually split it.

The position of the EC was that only the inhabitants of the areas proposed to form the new region should be allowed to vote.

Thus, for example, not all voters in the Volta region are allowed to vote, even if the region proposed for the Oti could be separated from it.

Only those living in the 11 municipalities, districts and cities designated to form the proposed new region should be allowed to vote.

The government's roadmap for the creation of new regions, which could raise Ghana's administrative regions to 16, does not excite everyone.

In March 2018, hundreds of people from the Volta region demonstrated against the division of the Volta region to create the proposed region for the Oti.

They rejected the claim that the division would accelerate blocked development in the new regions. Opponents demanded decentralization, namely that the government give more political power to metropolitan, municipal and district bademblies to foster development.

Some opponents also feel the evil of the Akufo-Addo government, which has repeatedly said that it only respected the wishes of the people when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) met in the 2016 elections. .

Dan Botwe pointed out that the government has no position on the creation of new regions. It has obligations only vis-à-vis organs mandated by the Constitution, such as the the Electoral Commission (EC), the Department of Information Services (DSI).

"The government will facilitate and fund only educational campaigns conducted by constitutionally mandated bodies," said the minister at Host Show, Afia Pokua.

The latest legal hurdle to the creation of new regions has also been overcome, the minister said, explaining that the Constitutional Instrument (IC 109) for the new regions would expire Thursday, November 29, 2018.

The maturation of the IC tabled in Parliament should pave the way for the holding of the vote by the EC.

Two new regions, the the proposed regions of Savanna and the Northeast could be extracted from the Northern Region. In the Brong Ahafo region, two other regions – the Ahafo and Brong East regions – could see the light of day.

In the western region, nine districts could be regrouped to form the new northwestern region.

Regions will be formed if there is at least 50% participation in the proposed zones and 80% of the Yes vote.

The referendum is scheduled for December 27.