Dan Botwe
“The Akufo-Addo led government’s decision to create more regions is politically aiming to achieve electoral advantage…It is unnecessary and useless if government says it wants to ensure the regions have rapid development.”
This statement was purportedly made by Joseph Yieleh Chireh, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Wa West in the Upper West Region yesterday.
He was reacting to plans by the Akufo-Addo led NPP administration’s plans to create about six more regions in order to accelerate the development of the country.
The unfortunate statement by Mr. Yieleh Chireh shows clearly that the opposition NDC still believes Ghanaians have ‘short memories’ as the NDC told Ghanaians.
Another Member of Parliament, Isaac Agyei Mensah for Wassa East in the Western Region is also singing the same hymn, making it appear like the NDC is completely against the new regions; not for anything but political expediency.
The previous Mahama administration of which Yieleh Chireh was a key member promised to create five more regions if they were given another chance after NPP had pledge to create more regions.
So when did NDC realize that such a noble effort is ‘useless’ or ‘unnecessary’ as he is quoted as saying?
How did he come to the conclusion that the NPP was doing that to achieve electoral advantage?
Has he forgotten that the government he served as minister for a while was promising to create even more? Were they also going to use it to rig elections?
Even though we don’t know the number of regions on the board except the grapevine report that says six, the truth of the matter is that many Ghanaians believe that some of the regions need to be split for effective administration and therefore, it was refreshing when the Council of State unanimously endorsed the project.
The NPP did not wake up one morning to say they wanted to create more regions.
It was a carefully thought-out manifesto pledge, which has become more or less a binding social contract between them and the public. To aid the initiative, the Ministry of Regional Reorganization and Development appears to have been created by the President to spearhead this effort.
Creation of regions has opened the developmental space of the nation.
We should not forget that in the 1980s, in the heat of the revolution, Jerry John Rawlings carved the Upper West Region from the Upper Region now Upper East Region and that singular act has helped to bring more development to the two important areas. As we speak, Wa, the capital of Upper West Region, the younger region, can boast of a regional hospital, a university and many other infrastructure. A similar story can be told of Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.
As it is, it cannot be said that the effort to create more regions is a done deal. In fact, there will have to be a referendum to define the way forward.
Our passionate appeal to the government is to ensure that the committee set up to draw the modalities for the creations will take every reasonable concern(s) on board.
The government should also intensify its education on the need for these additions so that there will be complete consensus at the end of the day.
As for the NDC pessimists, the public would have to forgive them because they are still stuck in their negative propaganda mood.