New Regions: Akufo-Addo orders full Brobbey Report published

President Nana Akufo-Addo has instructed the Ministry of Information to publish the 398-page Justice S.A. Brobbey Commission Report on the creation of new regions.

The Supreme Court last week rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the process initiated by the president upon receipt of petitions for the creation of six new regions.

Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who made the revelation at a press briefing in Accra on Sunday, 2 December 2018, said the process of creating the new regions was initiated in accordance with Article 5 of the 1992 Constitution, which, according to him, does not provide for the publication of the report of the Commission of Inquiry.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said that should not be confused with Article 278 which require a mandatory publication of the report of the commission.

Mr Nkrumah said President Akufo-Addo has, however, instructed that in accordance with his firm views on transparency, the report should be published in full.

“In an instruction note to the Ministry of Information, President Akufo-Addo states that: “The dictates of good governance and transparency in the public space of a functioning democracy should lead me to authorise, prior to the planned referenda by the Electoral Commission on 27 December 2018, the publication of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Creation of New Regions”, the minister revealed.

He said the Ministry of Information, in accordance with the president’s instructions, will publish the report in full on the government’s website www.ghana.gov.gh as well as on “our social media handles in the coming week”.

It will also be available at the Ghana Publishing Company for hard copy purchase.

Copies of the report will also be made available to parliament and subsequently disseminated across key stakeholder groups nationwide.