Akufo-Addo Directs Publication of Report on Creation of New Regions

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has instructed the Ministry of Information to take steps to publish the 398-page report of the Brobbey Commission that inquired into the creation of new regions in 2018.

It will be recalled that 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 (6) new regions.

The process of creating the new regions was initiated in accordance with Article 5 of the 1992 constitution which does not provide for the publication of the report of the commission of Inquiry.

At a media briefing in Accra on Sunday, the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the provision in Article 5 of the 1992 constitution should not be “confused with Article 278 on commissions which require a mandatory publication of the report of the commission.”

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said that notwithstanding, 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, which Mr Oppong Nkrumah read at the press briefing, President Akufo-Addo states: “…that the dictates of good governance and transparency in the public space of a functioning democracy should lead me to authorize, prior to the planned referenda by the Electoral Commission on 27th December 2018, the publication of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Creation of New Regions”.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said in the coming week, the Ministry of Information in accordance with The President’s instructions will publish the report in full on the government online portal www.ghana.gov.gh as well as on our social media handles.

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

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