Akufo-Addo’s government doesn’t understand its mandate - CPP's Kabila

Director of Elections for the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Joseph Kwabena Bonfeh has described as misplaced priority for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his team to consider the creation of new regions amidst lack of resources and logistics.

According to him, Akufo-Addo’s government does not understand its mandate and the reason Ghanaians voted for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) with such a wide margin for change of government.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Kabila as popularly called averred that several researches on decentralization and development of the people show that the resources and logistics which are needed to develop the regions and its districts are not available and if at all, they are not enough.

He stressed that the country has to work hard to get more resources; reiterating that the country needs more structures and reduce the bureaucracy system in order to fast-forward the resources to the various places of the country as this is the actual problem.

“It is not necessarily the creation of new regions that will bring about development; it is a falsehood. There are no money and structures in place to create new regions because there are still places where one District Police Commander is taking care of other districts,” he asserted.

He added that the country is lacking resources and facilities in all areas and that it will take time to think of creating new regions.

“Our revenue generation is inadequate; there is no addition to the revenue to the extent that we can pump money to create new regional capitals. The issue with governance in the region is the issue of logistics, resources and communication. If you create the region the people don’t have the things to help them generate internal revenue, where can the region get the internally generated funds (IGF) from to start development of the new region before funds come from the central government?”

He urged Akufo-Addo’s government to be truthful to Ghanaians and also be humble and bold enough to admit that they cannot create new regions with regards to the current circumstances the country finds itself.

“This government must learn to appreciate that and concede that it is not everything they promised Ghanaians from opposition that can be implemented at all cost. Donald Trump is suffering because of this character of Nana Addo’s government. I don’t know what the rush is about? Setting up commission of enquiry is going to be at a cost to the people; what is the commission of enquiry going to work on that we already don’t know about the need for creating new regions?” he quizzed.

He insisted that creating new regions means that “all structures you have under central authority will have a replicate at the regional levels”.

“They have the mandate and they can do whatever they want insofar as it is in the remit of the law. If they are a listening government, they must listen to some people outside their government,” he urged.

“Is it by force to create new regions as promised during the campaign? We should do cost-benefit analysis. Even those regions created under Rawlings are still struggling with resources and remains the poorest region [Upper West and Upper East Regions],” he emphasized.