Suggestions have been made by sections of the public and members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), that the attempt to split up traditional strongholds of the party in elections like the Volta and Northern Region, was part of efforts to weaken the NDC’s influence there.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Ni9qOozXoRxatOT8OzQFe4z3Cdrvuuzn”]However, speaking on   Eyewitness News on Friday, the Deputy Minister for Regional Re-organisation and Development, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, dismissed these claims, insisting that the move to split up the regions was not politically motivated.

“Electorally, it does not matter where a person votes, they can vote in the Volta Region or the Northern Region, your votes counts equally for whichever candidate or party. You’ll not necessarily have to divide a region to make an impact electorally. If the people decide to vote one way ,[it won’t change]. Thankfully that is not the objective,” he said.

He added that, despite only promising to create one new region in their manifesto prior to the elections, then candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had been presented with requests from several other regions for similar treatment should the New Patriotic Party win power.

“We indicated in our manifesto that we would create Western North Region, that was the only one we talked about. After the release of our manifesto, when Nana Addo went around the country, the people made demands for the regions to be created. The law does not stop anyone from making those demands, and when we won power, the petitions were thrown at him. It’s not NPP inspired,” he claimed.

Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah also brushed aside claims that the Ashanti Region, which is a stronghold of the governing party had been shielded, stating that no petition had been received for the creation of a new region.

He however, revealed that, the creation of a new region from Brong Ahafo could affect sections of the Ashanti Region, as the two share a border.

“We received two petitions from the Northern Region to create two new regions, two petitions from the Brong Ahafo region and one petition each from the Volta Region and Western Region. There were no petitions from the other regions. If you look at the demand for the creation of the regions, it has almost included a section of the Ashanti Region which is in the Ahafo area, so that’s how the Ashanti Region may be affected should the Commission uphold the demands,“ he explained.

Commission of Enquiry for new regions inaugurated

The President, earlier this week inaugurated a nine-member Commission of  Enquiry to oversee the processes and report back in six months.

According to the deputy Minister, it was not a certainty that all the proposed new regions will be created as the people living would first have to approve it via a referendum.

“Leading minds around this project will argue that for proper decentralization, you need to have 20 administrative regions. The beautiful thing is that, for those who agree or disagree, the decision will go back to the people. When the Commission brings back their report, we’ll head to a referendum where 50 percent of the people must vote, and 80 percent of them must approve it. You can’t force it, it’s not the government deciding that it has to be.”

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By; Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Creation of new regions not politically motivated – Gov’t appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the development affects the integrity of the Commission and as such urgent steps must be taken to resolve the brouhaha.

[contextly_sidebar id=”0WANJBP3Sg3PD0nabpBGhQwOcfdvxbT2″]The EC has been caught in a web of complex controversy that started after some faceless staff of the Commission petitioned the president, Nana Akufo-Addo to impeach the Commissioner, Charlotte Osei, for awarding a GH¢3.9 million to a private company without duly consulting other members of the commission, among other allegations.

Charlotte Osei in a comprehensive response to the allegations said they were unsubstantiated. She accused the Deputy Commissioner in-charge of Operations at the EC, Amadu Sulley of illegal acts including diverting funds meant for the Commission and illegally transferring votes.

She accused Amadu Sulley of persistently effecting illegal vote transfers from his office on the voter management system. An action that is in clear breach of the law and operational policies of the Commission.

Many have expressed worry over the developments from the confusion but Martin Agyei Mensah Korsah has said a thorough investigation must be conducted into the affairs of the Commission.

He confirmed that ahead of the December 7 elections, there was an illegal transfer of votes but he could not state who exactly is behind it.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, he said, “It confirms some of the issues that we put out. We were not just conjuring things from the sky. There were obvious things that were happening that we thought was not right. We were supposed to be stakeholders but things were being done and we were not informed.”

“I’m not allowed to say who is responsible but those things happened. There were instances where we had to move to the district offices and the National Headquarters to stop people. We were not informed, yet transfers were happening,” he said.

He expressed doubt that the Commission would be deemed credible enough to steer the country’s next elections if nothing is done to address the issue.

“It is frightening. If we are not careful I’m wondering if we’ll be left with any Commission to deal with… Investigations that have begun must be done quickly to deal with these matters…If we cannot trust our election managers with money, then what else is left? It is very worrying,” he said.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Votes were transferred illegally in 2016 – NPP Director confirms appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The group marched through some principal streets of Accra to register their displeasure about the poor sanitation, water and hygiene in the capital.

The group in a petition to the Mayor, tasked various parties responsible for the country’s waste management to ensure a clean environment.

The petition also proffered solutions for community engagements to help city authorities introduce effective sanitation strategies.

Speaking to Citi FM’s Shamima Muslim on the news and current affairs programme, The Big Issue, one of the leader’s of the group, Kathleen Addy stated that: “we are at the Mayor’s office right now. Unfortunately, he is not here to receive us even though we gave notice on Monday;But we handed the petition over to the security lady and she will would make sure he [Mayor] receives it.”

Ghana’s capital, Accra has been engulfed in filth for months now and residents in Accra have called on the Mayor of Accra to address the problem.

However, the Mayor has indicated that residents would have to live with the problem for sometime since the city has no landfill sites at the moment.

The Accra Compost and Recycling plant at Adjin Kotoku has been shut down, leaving only the Kpone landfill site in the Tema Metropolis to serve the whole of the Greater Accra region.

The Tema Metropolitan Assembly is complaining that the Kpone landfill site is under pressure because it now has to accept refuse from Accra.

Residents in Accra have blamed the government for the city’s waste management problems.

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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