Katakyie Kwasi Bumangama II visits a polling station
The Omanhene of Sefwi Wiawso Traditional Area, Katakyie Kwasi Bumangama II, has showered praises on President Akufo-Addo for initiating the creation of the Western North Region.
He said that the creation of the Western-North Region was long overdue due to the administrative inconveniences created by the wide gap between the north and south of the Western Region.
According to the Omanhene, for over 40 years, successive chiefs in the area had been yearning for the creation of the Western North Region but governments at the time failed to do so.
“So I say a big thank to President Akufo-Addo for given us the opportunity to create the Western North Region during my time as the Omanhene of Sefwi Wiawso,” the elated Omanhene indicated.
He mentioned that the move by President Akufo-Addo would help address the unwieldy size of the Western Region and ensure a more efficient governance system and equitable development.
“It will also help address the lack of a corresponding development to match the contributions of the northern part of the region to the country,” he pointed out.
Speaking in an interview with DAILY GUIDE at Sefwi Wiawso after visiting some of the polling centres in the area during last Thursday’s referendum to decide whether or not the Western Region should be split, Katakyie Bumangama remarked “the people of Sefwi and Western North will forever be grateful to the current government.”
He disclosed that the government took steps to create the Western North Region according to the dictates of the Constitution which demanded a referendum after all the necessary consultations.
“In fact today is a great day and we will consider December 27, as our independence day and we are going to celebrate it every year. Now we will not have to travel long distance to Sekondi for administrative duties,” he told DAILY GUIDE.
99.52% YES
The people in the proposed new region overwhelmingly endorsed the suggestion to crave the new region from the Western Region as 99.52 per cent of the electorate, who participated in last Thursday’s referendum, voted in support of the creation of the new region.
The Regional Returning Officer of the Electoral Commission, John Oscar Kintoh, disclosed that the total number of registered voters in the nine districts of the proposed region was 502,247 and that the total votes cast were 390,654, representing 77.78 per cent voter turnout.
He mentioned that the total number of the people who voted YES were 389,003 while 880 of them voted NO and that rejected ballots were 769.
“You were required to have 80 per cent YES votes and the certified results indicated 99.52 per cent. Upon the power vested in me by the chairperson of the EC, I hereby declare YES winner of the referendum held in the Western North Region,” he told the press.
The Nine Districts
In Aowin District, out of 75,687 registered voters, 66,187 voted YES, 191 voted NO.
With a voter population of 23,857 in the Suaman District, a total of 20,860 voted YES while 22 voted NO.
In the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai District, out of the voter population of 83,730, 59,421 voted YES and 125 voted NO.
Sefwi Wiawso, with a total of 80,716 registered voters, saw 63,340 voting YES as against 123 No votes.
In Sefwi Akontombra 27,982 people voted YES with 115 NO votes out of 42,352 registered voters.
Out of the 55,588 voters in Juaboso, 46,212 voted YES with 137 NO votes. In Bodi, out of 39,024 registered voters, 32,760 voted YES as against 70 NO votes.
Bia West with 69,738 voter population, saw 47,076 voting YES and 88 voting NO.
In Bia East with 30,614 voter population, a total of 24,349 voted YES for the creation while 71 voted NO.
Jubilation
The announcement by the returning officer that the new region had been created was received with spontaneous and boisterous applause from the people, most of whom had championed the creation of the new region.
An excited indigene stated, “I am a head of an institution, but I feel strongly demoralized because it takes a longer period for me to commute from our offices to the regional office in Sekondi. So I am happy we now have our own region.”
Regional Capital
In an interview with the Western Regional Minister, Dr Kweku Afriyie, a native of Sefwi Wiawso, who was also elated, revealed that the citing of the regional capital in the new region was not an issue at all but he said he was not responsible for the determination of the regional capital.
He indicated that the people were very happy with the development and hopeful that they would see massive development in the area of infrastructure.
Former Minister
A former Western Regional Minister, Paul Evans Aidoo, who is also a native of Sefwi Wiawso, said that both the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) collaborated to ensure the creation of the new region.
“We all saw the need to create the new region because it was difficult to access facilities in the regional capital of Sekondi, particularly the regional hospital. So we needed an extra region,” he added.
Change of Name
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, the Coordinator of the Western North Region, Lt. Col Anthony Aduhene (Rtd) remarked “We are happy that at long last, we have our own region and hoping for accelerated development.
“We intend to change the name ‘Western North’ so we will call for a meeting of the chiefs and all stakeholders to discuss the new name for the new region and where the regional capital should be,” he added.
Meanwhile, DAILY GUIDE has learnt that the stakeholders want to name the new region Tano after River Tano in the area.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Sefwi Wiawso