Stephen Ayensu Ntim, a former first national vice-chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party, has urged the electorate in the two proposed new regions in the Brong-Ahafo Region to vote massively to endorse the decision to create the regions.

Stephen Ayensu Ntim, a former first national vice-chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party, has urged the electorate in the two proposed new regions in the Brong-Ahafo Region to vote massively to endorse the decision to create the regions.

The proposed regions are Bono East and Ahafo. The Electoral Commission has scheduled a referendum to he held on December 27, 2018 for the electorate to either approve or reject the proposal to create the new regions.

Referendum

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Statesman, Mr Ntim, who is a native of the Brong-Ahafo Region, reminded the people about the importance of the impending referendum, as stipulated under Article 5, Clause 6, of the Constitution.

According to that clause, an issue referred for determination by referendum for the creation of a new region out of an existing region "shall not be taken to be determined by the referendum unless at least fifty per cent of the persons entitled to vote cast their votes at the referendum, and of the votes cast, at least eighty per cent were cast in favour of that issue".

“With this in mind, what I want my people to understand is that whether the new regions will be created on not depends on their attitude towards the upcoming referendum.

“It is upon this basis that I want to call on the electorate in the affected areas to come out in their numbers on the day of the referendum to vote massive to endorse the proposal to create the regions,” Mr Ntim said.

In view of the people’s desire for accelerated development, Nr Ntim is confident that “there should be more than 95% YES votes as a proof that indeed they support it.”

Development

According to him, the creation of the new regions will help improve the socio-economic circumstances of the people by bringing development closer to them.

“There is the need to create more growth poles through the creation of more districts and regions. Ghana needs to develop at a faster pace and this can be achieved through decentralisation, so we need to support it,” he noted.

“When a new region is created, over time, new regional hospitals, regional offices of major government institutions and so on will be built. People would not have to travel over long distances to access certain amenities. Banks will be forced to open branches. Universities, polyclinics and so on will be available and closer to the people.”

“The development will not come overnight, but with time we would see some level of improvement at the regional levels, so it is good and we must support it,” he added.