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The Member of Parliament for the Bodi Constituency in the Western Region, Sampson Ahi, has said Nana Akufo Addo’s promise to create a new region in the Western Region is nothing new since the government is mulling the idea. The Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party has promised to create a new region in the Western Region to be called the Western North Region should he win this year’s election.

According to Akufo-Addo, "the northern part of the region [Western North] has to get its own region if Akufo-Addo becomes the next President of Ghana. My government will follow all the constitutional provisions to get this new region".

Nana Addo believes an independent Western North Region will enhance the governance of the northern part of the region.

However, speaking on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News Friday, Mr Ahi noted that the Western Regional Minister has received several petitions in connection to the new region and that it will be forwarded to the president for consideration.

“We have started working on it. In fact, when you check in the last 6 March [Independence day]address of the Western Regional Minister, he said emphatically that he has received a request from people living in the northern part of the Western Region about the need to create a region and so he knows and he mentioned this,” he twittered. “We are in the process of forwarding it to His Excellency the president for consideration.”

The Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing also faulted Akufo-Addo premise for the creation of the region.

He said:“The basis upon which Nana Akufo-Addo promise this region is that all the resources are emanating from the northern part of the region.

“Mind you, constitutionally, before you can create a region out of existing region, you will need the support of all support of all registered people to vote and when they vote, 50 percent have to vote and out of that 50 percent, 80 percent must vote yes.

“so if you start [with] that premise that because resources come from that part of the region and that is why you are going to create the region for them, you will not get the support of the Nzema people, the Ahanta people, the Wasa people and so on and so forth.”