YOU ARE NOT TO ENFORCE PREDETERMINED AGENDA-TOGBE CAUTIONS COMMISSION OF ENQUIRY
President of the National House of Chiefs, Togbe Afede, has advised the
Commission of Enquiry considering petitions for the creation of new regions to
always endeavour to hold and present themselves as a fact-finding body and not
as agents to enforce a predetermined agenda.
In this regard, the processes
involved in the national exercise should be fair to the people in whose
interest the objective is being pursued.
Togbe Afede, who is also the
Agbogbomafia of the Asogli State in the Volta region, admonished also the
Commission of Enquiry to be sensitive about its decision regarding who
qualifies to vote in any possible Referendum and the determination of
boundaries.
He gave the advice in Kumasi at the opening of the 2nd
Meeting of the National House of Chiefs this year.
The
Guests at the Meeting were the Commission of Enquiry into the Creation of new
administrative regions led by its Chairman, Justice Stephen Brobbey.
They were
accompanied by the Minister for Regional Re-Organization and Development, Dan
Botwe and his Deputy, Martin Agyei Korsar.
The Minister and the Commission
members were at the NHC’s meeting as part of their broader consultations
particularly with chiefs who are custodians of lands and history of their
respective traditional areas.
The consultation is part of the concluding part
of the work of the Commission whose six-month deadline for completion of its
work inches closer.
Togbe Afede stated that, 'the overriding interest of we chiefs in the creation
of any new region is the preservation of peace and unity and that the process
should be devoid of tribalism and divisive tendencies.'
He urged chiefs to lend their support to the Commission in its work.
The Minister for Regional Re-Organization and Development, Dan Botwe, reiterated
the fact that the creation of the new regions would be purely demand-driven by
citizens of the areas under consideration.
According to him, many factors would
be considered in the determination of whether or not to create entirely new
regions, merge existing ones or alter boundaries.
'Government will not spend a dime on the campaign activities for the creation of the new regions', the Minister stressed.
The Chairman of the Commission of Enquiry, Justice Brobbey, noted that the
Commission has been open and also done enough consultations and that the
meeting with the National House of Chiefs is meant to consider views of the
members as it rounds up its work.
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