The National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, has declared that if won, he intends to divide the Upper East Region into a separate region.
During a visit to the Upper East Region’s Bawku Naba’s palace, Mahama disclosed that a proposal had been sent to the Speaker of Parliament via Bawku MP Mahama Ayariga.
Mahama maintained that in addition to addressing urgent problems like the continuous security situation in the Bawku area, the new zone will also increase employment prospects.
He stated that there is a compelling argument to be made for the creation of a new region because the Bawku area’s population and land area are on par with or greater than those of the North East Region.
He emphasised that the creation of new regions and districts is intended to decentralise governance and improve security.
“I discussed something with him. Your Member of Parliament, I’m aware he has written a letter to the Speaker requesting that another region should be created out of the Upper East Region to cover the six constituencies in the Bawku area.
“Bawku Naba raised it with me, and I told him in principle I think it’s a good idea for two reasons. One, for the reason of bringing government closer to the people.”
“That’s the principal reason for which we create new regions and new districts. And then the second reason is for security. Bawku is a special security zone because of the issues that have been happening here. And so it would be a good proposal to have a region so that it can be a focus to make sure that we deal with the security issues as well as we can.”
“And so, I don’t think it’s out of place because the criteria are dependent on population, they are dependent on land size, and they are dependent on economic viability.”