The Minister for Regional Reorganisation and Development, Dan Kweku Botwe, has disclosed GH₵120 million has been allocated in the 2019 budget for the new regions.
“The 2019 budget has allocated 20 million as seed capital per the new region,” he told the media Thursday, November 29, during a press briefing.
According to him, the funds would be used to provide critical infrastructure for a smooth take-off of the six regions.
This announcement follows the dismissal of the suit challenging the creation of the new regions by the Supreme Court.
Mayor Agbleze, Destiny Awlimey and Jean Claude Koku Amenyaoglo went to the Supreme Court seeking an interpretation of Article 5 of the 1992 Constitution, which deals with the creation of new regions and merger of regions.
But in a unanimous decision, the Court held that the three individuals who initiated the suit failed to properly invoke the interpretative jurisdiction of the apex court.
On Thursday, the Constitutional Instrument (CI 109), which was before Parliament, matured, paving the way for the Electoral Commission, Ghana to go ahead with the referendum on Thursday, December 27.
The minister said government will not spend any part of the money to campaign for a “Yes” vote. He noted all the ongoing campaigns in the various affected areas are being funded by “the petitioners”.
The new regions will be carved out if there is at least 50 per cent turn-out in the proposed areas and 80 per cent of the turn-out vote ‘Yes’ in the December 27 referendum.
Where will the new regions be?
Two new regions, the proposed Savanna and North East regions, could be carved out of the Northern Region.
In the Brong Ahafo Region, two more regions – Ahafo and Brong East regions could emerge.
In the Western Region, nine districts would form the new Western North Region while the Oti region would be carved out of the Volta Region.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana