That, they said, would facilitate the process to ensure their demand for an Ahafo Region became a reality.

They said the Ahafo area had over the years petitioned successive governments for a region but it never materialised and, therefore, with this opportunity, the people could no longer wait for Ahafo to stand on its feet as a region.

Public forum

The Omanhene of Acherensua, Agyewodin Professor Adu Gyamfi Ampem, who summed up the arguments at a public forum organised by the Commission of Enquiry for the creation of new regions in Accra last Friday, also seized the opportunity to reinforce their demand as a people for the creation of the Ahafo region and thanked President
Akufo-Addo for responding to their petitions by setting up the Commission.

The forum, which was the last to be organised by the Commission, formed part of a number of hearings since it began its work in October last year.

The Commission started by meeting in-camera with petitioners from the Western North from the Western Region, Oti Region from the Volta Region, Ahafo and Bono East from the Brong Ahafo Region as well as those from Mamprugu and Gonjaland from the Northern Region.

It also moved to interact with people from communities of the petitioners after which it returned to Accra for its final hearing which began last Thursday at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).

Contributions

In an earlier presentation, the spokesperson for the group, Mr Yaw Owusu Brempong, said the demand for the Ahafo Region is long overdue since the area had been disadvantaged in terms of development for a very long time.

“Development in the region is skewed towards the Brong side of the region and so we at the Ahafo side have and continue to be disadvantaged” he stressed.

Mr Owusu Brempong was not happy about the lack of general infrastructure including roads, hospitals and educational institutions compared with the Brong area, despite its natural and human resource, and said the prevailing situation had rendered many of the youth unemployed.

“We are an agrarian area but we cannot boast first class roads to transport our farm produce neither do we have a specialised educational institution in the area”, he said.

Using the churches and the headquarters’ within the catchment area, a contributor, Rev. Kwadwo Owusu Sarpong, said “the number of Presbyteries and Diocese within the Ahafo area alone was enough testimony that Brong Ahafo is too big and ought to be divided.

A Development Planner and a native of Acherensua, Prof. Kweku Dwomoh Kesse, also stressed the need for commitment on the part of all stakeholders to ensure that the creation of the Ahafo Region came to pass.