Dambai
PRESIDENT Akufo-Addo today, Friday February 15, 2019, announced Dambai as the capital of the newly created Oti Region.
That was when he presented the Constitutional Instrument (C I) that signifies the official creation of the Oti Region after six decades of pleas for the creation of the region.
The Oti Region has been carved out of the Volta Region following demands by chiefs and people since 1954, three years before Ghana gained independence from the British.
President Akufo-Addo could not end his statement about Dambai being the capital of the Oti Region when the chiefs and residents from the region who attended the ceremony held at the forecourt of the Jubilee House, the seat of government in Accra, started jumping into wild jubilation.
It was a moment of a dream come true for the residents and chiefs who could not hide their happiness about the establishment of the region.
President Akufo-Addo recounted how in 2016 as a presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) he visited the Volta Region and was confronted with the demand for the creation of the new region.
He said upon assuming power in 2017, he was petitioned on June 6 that year by the Joint Consultative Committee for the creation of the Oti Region to have the region created.
President Akufo-Addo said his government attaches seriousness to the development of the new region, assuring residents and chiefs of the area that development projects would be equitably spread.
He said a seven-member committee has been formed to oversee the development take-off of the Oti Region and that a seed fund of GH¢20 million has been devoted to the development of the region.
Ghana now has 16 regions following the earlier creations of Western North, North East, Savannah, Bono East, Ahafo Regions respectively.
BY Melvin Tarlue