Creation Of New Regions/districts In Ghana -Let's Build Unity Instead Of Division

The Akufo-Addo administration has started preliminary work on the creation of new regions and the rationale given is that creation of new regions and districts leads to improved service delivery and general development. To assess whether this is true or not and whether there are good intents behind the idea or not one needs to look at few factors including (i) political dynamics, (ii) opportunity cost-allocation of resources, (iii) Traditional boundaries etc. The first point is, if land is assumed constant,then service delivery can only be improved based on how labour and capital are allocated and used by government. One would argue intuitively that if government spends more on administrative costs, the opportunity cost will be less service delivery. But before we go into the technical area, let's remind ourselves of an incident which took place on the floor of parliament years ago. Because of the sensitivity of the matter, I will appeal to readers to put off their partisan caps and give it the dispassionate attention it deserves. Mr J.H Mensah then senior Minister in the Kufour administration, nearly stirred the honet nest in Parliament when he touched on what pundits described as sensitive issue of some Volta Region Chiefs claiming affiliation and swearing allegiance to the Asantehene. The senior Minister supported his assertion with an explanation that "move by the Chiefs is a political opportunity for MPS from both regions to bridge the gap "it is a political opportunity and not a political affront" he said. This statement brought both Hon. Kosi Kedem MP for Hohoe South and Dr Kwabena Adjei who was the MP for Biakoye all in the Volta Region to their feet in objection to the Senior Minister's pronouncement. Dr Adjei didn't take kindly to the statement at all and drew the Speaker's attention to the sensitivity of the matter and urged him to call the senior Minister to order. Before this pronouncement, the senior Minister had predicted the demise of the minority NDC before the 2004 general election. The agenda of the senior Minister and his party was to ensure that the NDC became history and adopted all the weird tactic available to actualize that dream. I have raised this issue because of the perception out there that moves to divide the Volta Region is part of the Npp's plans to weaken NDC'S support in the region. The irony is that the NDC also proposed same move but intents and motives behind the two proposals are what we must dispassionately diagnose. I see Nana Akufo-Addo above this political pettiness and pray live by his promise and motives. It will be wrong on my part to just believe in his what he said about his policy without scrutinising all the angles. Advocates of creation of new districts argue that some new districts and regions created in the past have exhibited much better performance than their mother districts or regions. This is a simplistic argument because of the polarised nature of the environment, our traditional boundaries and history and because when a new district or region is created it shares staff,revenue base, and transfers from central government on a pro-rata basis with the parent region or district. Depending on how this sharing is done, one of the districts or regions is bound to lose. New districts and regions bring added burden for central government line Ministries to perform their functions of inspection, supervision, monitoring, mentoring and training to ensure that sector service etc standard are maintained. So why does our governments continue to create new districts which may and hasn't practically improve development as envisaged. Some traditional areas and leaders have lost control of towns and villages naturally located in their tradition zones because of these re-demarcations and creation of new districts and regions. The technical experts will tell you all is well..that they have done comprehensive work to cure these issues but the Chiefs and indigenes in these areas will also give you different information.

We hear all kinds of theories from the politicians and technocrats to support the policy but truth is that, the politicians look at it purely from the political perspective, the technocrats are looking at it with technical eye, our development partners look at it from their perspective and the traditional institutions also have their motives. When Gorbachev introduced his glasnost and perestroika initiative, the west knew the possible gains...when the Soviet collapsed,the west quickly moved there and formed allies with some of the newly created states to neutralise the strength of Russia. Eastern Europe got weakened and some of the states quickly allied themselves to the West. Let me compare mangoes with oranges here...culture and traditions change over time..when the people of Obomeng in Kwahu moved from Akwamu to their present location,they were speaking their Akwamu language, when the people of Atibie settled at their present location from Kuntenase,they were speaking their language, when the people of Akropong, Amonokrom and all the Okyehene representatives in various Akwapim towns settled at their present locations,they were speaking their Akyem language on and on...all these people later changed their languages, culture etc over time and these changes happen unconsciously. Nsawan was the farming base of the people of Aburi, and traditionally was directly under Aburi...eldest sons of Aburi chiefs were appointed traditional heads of Nsawan. We now have Nsawan municipal assembly and the Aburi district. Adoagyir and its surrounding have all been added to the Nsawan municipal assembly. This political arrangement is gradually neutralising Aburi's traditional control over Nsawan. When the people of Aburi were escaping "the old Akwamu threat" via Nyanyano, they passed through pokuase to Nsakye. When they got to Pokuase inside the forest,they left their cooking utensils, animals etc there, some settled around and others proceeded to Nsakye to their present location. As part of their Odwira rituals, they moved to the forest and make sure they get at least five of the fowls left in the forest by their ancestors for rituals before the Odwira was celebrated. Aburi has lost huge portion of lands it controlled between Nsakye and Pokuase because of this political administration policies. If the issue is not managed well, the next move after the politicians have divided these traditional zones under the guise of creation of new regions and districts is sessession. Our traditional heads will start conniving with mischievous politicians to secede from their mother traditional areas.

On the issue about agitations emanating from some Voltarians in connection with the new region, let's not rubbish their concerns. The truth is that the Akan-Voltarians speak impeccable twi, some still see themselves as allies of Asantehene and do their things same way as the Ashantis do. Twenty to forty years to come after the division, the likelihood of the politician applying all the theories to pull them totally away from their mother region in terms of culture, political persuasion etc is high and J.H Mensah in his pronouncement made that clear. Ask me Ohenenana to give my traditional view on the matter and from purely traditional perspective, I will thank my maker if my King the Asantehene is made the Overlord of Ghana. I will never hide that traditional conviction. But I hold that position purely from a traditional perspective not political...but we have others who will always make the political advantage their priority and that is the danger we must all watch with patriotic eyes. The Okyehene is reclaiming all lands stretching from Kyebi through to Anum Apapam to Adoagyir which were sold to the present settlers. Why is he doing that? That shows how our traditional heads and families see some of these issues. We cannot discuss this issue without looking at the demand for federal system of Government by the NLM group, the Trans-Togoland issue, the Anlo Youth Organisation which was formed by Modesto Apaloo, the plebiscite and the support the Danquah-Busia group offered those who were against the campaign to have the British Togoland join the Gold Coast at independence to form the Ghana.

The President was right, we must always be guided by our history that is very important. Politicians always take advantage of these issues to pursue their clandestine moves. Whent he "Ga mei Shikpon,Ga mei anoni"Ga land for Ga people was formed purposely to agitate for support after the 1939 earthquake which rendered many Gas homeless, the politicians quickly infiltrated and we had the "zenith seven" and the "Tokyo Joes" made up of young men who often engaged in violence which brought them into conflict with the CPP. That has been the modus operandi of the politicians and the earlier we dispassionately discuss these issues to curb all future challeges, the better.

On the issue about development, we need to review the current intergovernmental fiscal architecture in order to achieve improvement in service delivery. Under the decentralised policy framework, local governments need to have fiscal autonomy either through own sources of revenue or adequate discretionary transfer from central government. This is one of the cardinal issues we need to watch. The act of creating new districts or regions by itself,unless it is accompanied with a number of other things,may not translate into development.

What we need is good infrastructure across the country to ensure free flow of goods and services. Our roads, railways among others need serious attention. Our parliament as we have it now is not that effective because of partisan interest..I would have advised parliament, in the medium term,to put a moratorium on creation of new districts and regions until they we are all satisfied that the current local governments are adequately staffed and financed to provide the services we expect of them.