Government Has No Hidden Agenda in Creating New Regions – Minister

The government does not have any hidden agenda in the creation of additional regions in the country, Mr Dan Botwe, the Minister for Regional Re-organisation and Development, has said.

He said everything about the new regional creations was being done transparently and government would not campaign for the people to vote yes because the idea is derived from the will of the people.

Mr Botwe, also the Member of Parliament for Okere in the Eastern Region, said this at a sensitisation workshop for media personnel and staff of the Information Service Department and the National Commission for Civic Education in the Brong-Ahafo Region on Wednesday in Sunyani.

He recalled the historical antecedent of the creation of regions in the country, saying that it started in the colonial era through the post-independent period to 1983 when the Provisional National Defence Council government created the Upper West Region from the then Upper Region to make the current number of ten regions.

Mr Botwe said the request was by the desire and expressed will of the chiefs and people in the respective areas on the basis of provisions in the chapter two of the 1992 Fourth Republican Constitution of the country.

He said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has not named any of the proposed regions and the locations of their capitals and reiterated that those matters were the sole decision of the chiefs and people of the areas in question.

Meanwhile, Mr Botwe by slide presentation explained the constitutional basis and the processes involved in creating new regions to educate and equip the participants with the required and necessary knowledge to enable them to disseminate accurate and truthful information about the issue to the electorate.

Source: GNA