By: Rita Kafui Nedjoh | Voltaonlinegh |
Concerned Citizens of Akpafu, Lolobi, and Likpe Traditional areas of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe (SALL), the four communities carved from Hohoe Municipality in the Volta Region and added to Oti Region are demanding from President Akufo-Addo to allow them remain under Hohoe Municipality and the Volta Region.
According to the Group, they never petitioned government to be part of the new region and so could not understand why they were forcibly added and that too without the entire municipality.
At a press conference organised on Saturday, June 8 at Lolobi Kumasi, Spokesperson for the Group, Ireneus Yaotse said the current situation created by the Justice Brobbey Commission report had put the SALL communities in an indeterminate state making it difficult for them to exercise their legal rights in terms of participating in the Limited Voters registration, Ghana Card Registration, party executives elections at constituency and regional levels.
He lamented the situation of being part of Oti Region yet under a municipality in the Volta Region saying, “we cannot benefit from the District Assembly Common Fund and teachers and farmers are unable to lodge complaints as we don’t know where we belong.”
The Group explained that SALL communities were not against the creation of the Oti Region rather their addition to it and insisted to remain with Volta Region.
They argued that citizens of SALL communities who could not speak and understand English would rather be better at understanding any translation in “Ewe” while translation into Twi or any Guan language would be a challenge to them.
Besides, the Group said, “the SALL traditional areas stand to benefit better under Hohoe because of the proximity of Hohoe as an administrative capital.”
The people denied knowledge of a group calling itself Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) purporting to have jurisdiction over Lolobi and Akpafu traditional areas adding that such a group was “419” as it did not represent the people of SALL traditional areas.
They also demanded to know why the Brobbey Commission refused to consider the submission made by the Paramount Chief of Lolobi Traditional Area, Nana Akoto Masakyi III that his people did not petition to join Oti Region at the Commission’s meeting with the Volta Regional House of Chiefs dated January 17, 2018 in Ho.
To them, by carving out the four non-Ewe-speaking traditional areas in Hohoe Municipality while rejecting petition for the entire Hohoe Municipality to be part of Oti Region suggested that the region was created along tribal and ethnic lines which was in contradiction with the 1992 Constitution.
Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com
