A group calling itself Strategic Thinkers Network-Africa has dragged the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Attorney General to the Supreme Court seeking an injunction on the referenda for the creation of six new regions in Ghana.
A 19-member Commission, after holding nationwide consultations with chiefs and other stakeholders, recommended to government to create the Oti, Ahafo, Brong East, Western North, North East and Savanna regions.
The EC has also approved a road-map for organising referenda as part of the process for the creation of the regions.
But the Strategic Thinkers Network is praying the apex court to declare as null and void, the EC’s plan to limit the referenda to only registered voters.
The group also wants a declaration that the impending limited voter registration exercise in the beneficiary areas “is arbitrary, whimsical and capricious, and violates Articles 45(a) and 296 of the 1992 Constitution and, therefore, unconstitutional.â€
They also want an order directing the EC “not to conduct the referendum limited to only the places so recommended.â€
Ghana is set for its second referendum since 1992 which could add six more administrative regions to the existing ten. The new regions are to be known as Oti, Ahafo, Brong East, Western North, North East and Savanna.
The referendum, expected in December 2018, is a recommendation of the Justice Alan Brobbey Commission of Enquiry set up in November to hear petitions in areas demanding a re-demarcation of the regions.
In its report presented to the president in June 2018, the Commission recommended that the referendum be limited to only registered voters within the proposed regions.
In the Western region, nine districts could be taken out to form the new Western North region. Eleven municipalities, districts and towns in the Volta region could also be carved out to create the Oti region.