President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo is set to create more districts to ensure a smooth administration of the country.
DAILY GUIDE is reliably informed that about 30 municipalities and districts are going to be created, barring any last-minute hitches.
A source said some sub-metros in the Accra, Tema and Kumasi are going to be elevated to autonomous municipal assemblies while other districts will be elevated to municipal status, and new districts carved out of larger ones.
Ghana currently has 216 districts and proponents of more districts have claimed that devolution of power should continue to enable the government to bring development to the doorsteps of the people, but critics have insisted that the whole process is a burden on the government’s wage bill.
In February 2008, more districts were created and some were upgraded to municipal status. This brought the number to 170 districts.
Further 46 districts were added on 28 June, 2012, bringing the total to 216 districts.
On his recent tour of the Upper West Region, President Akufo-Addo appeared to have given a hint about his intended creation and elevation of more districts when he said that Lawra District was going to be elevated to the status of municipality.
Naa Puowele Karbo III, paramount chief of the Lawra Traditional Area, in the presence of the president, had also put in a request to speed up the development of the area.
Sources say almost all the metropolitan assemblies are going to be split to ensure effective local governance.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), for instance, is expected to see the elevation of three of its sub-metros namely, Ablekuma, Ayawaso and Okaikoi to the status of full assemblies like La Dadekotopon and Ledzokuku-Krowor municipal assemblies.
At the Kumasi Metropolitan Assebmly, three of its sub-metros – Oforikrom, Nyhiaeso and another – are going to be given full assembly status while a similar move is being planned for Takoradi, at Kwesimintim and Tema at Sakumono or Spintex Road.
“What the government is doing won’t translate automatically into the creation of more constituencies,” the source told DAILY GUIDE.
By William Yaw Owusu