CREATING A NEW REGION (OCT 30)

THE need for the creation of another region out of the Northern Region, which is a fifth of the total land mass of the country, is, indeed, timely.
And the reasons cannot be far fetched — it will guarantee the effective administration and development of the area and the creation of more manageable regions in the north will facilitate the operations of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) which is dear to the heart of the Mills-led administration.
The sheer size of the region and the lack of the requisite resources to undertake development projects there enhance the case for more accessible administrative areas.
That the north holds the key to food self-sufficiency is not in doubt. What we are uncertain of now is our ability to mobilise the needed resources to make this dream a reality.
Article Five (1) of the 1992 Constitution, clearly spells out the creation, alteration or merger of regions. It states, “Subject to the provisions of this article, the President may, by constitutional instrument, (a) create a new region; (b) alter the boundaries of a region; or (c) provide for the merger of two or more regions.”
The DAILY GRAPHIC calls on all the stakeholders to fast-track the process to split the Northern Region to ensure effective administration and development.
Our fear is that if we fail to seek consensus on the creation of the region and where to site the regional capital, the processes will be stalled by endless litigation and even communal violence.
The DAILY GRAPHIC needs not remind the chiefs and people of the Northern Region who have presented the petition for the creation of the new region of the needless litigation that characterised the creation of new districts in the past.
We think that if the chiefs and people do not bury their personal differences and allow those biases to rear their ugly heads, the objectives contained in the petition cannot be fulfilled.
The DAILY GRAPHIC finds it refreshing that the government has indicated its readiness to refer the resolution back to the chiefs to iron out the grey areas to facilitate the process.
We think that the creation of the new region will come with extra cost, as new administrative offices and other infrastructure must be provided.
However, in the long term, the creation of a new region will reduce the bottlenecks and drudgery associated with the management of an unwieldy region such as the Northern Region.
The DAILY GRAPHIC reminds the government of the agitation from other parts of the country, such as northern Volta, for the creation of other regions.
And since the creation of a new region can only be accomplished through a referendum, which will come at a cost to the national budget, we think it is only fair to consider requests from other parts of the country so that the issue can be put to rest in a single referendum to review the Constitution holistically.
The opportunity has come for a review of the 1992 Constitution and it must not be missed.