The Member of Parliament for Banda Constituency and the Deputy Minority Chief Whip, has disclosed that over six thousand structures were not enumerated in the recently Population and Housing Census exercise which was conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service.
The Deputy Minority Chief Whip made this known at the Floor of Parliament when he made a statement on the need for the Ghana Boundary Commission to encourage negotiated settlement of boundary dispute in preference to litigation.
According to the Member of Parliament for Banda, a chief in Dollar Power sacked enumerators from the Bono Region from counting them with the reason that, the place belongs to the Savanna Region and that they will only allow enumerators from the Savanna Region to undertake that exercise for them.
This, according to Hon Ahmed Ibrahim, has the potential of undermining the credibility of the 2020/21 Population and Housing Census.
The Deputy Minority Chief Whip cited a number of boundary cases and called on the appropriate quarters to liaise with the Ghana Boundary Commission to find an amicable dispute settlement and report back to Parliament.
Kindly find the full statement
Statement on the need for the Ghana Boundary Commission to encourage negotiated settlement of boundary dispute in preference to litigation by Hon Ahmed Ibrahim
Thank You Mr Speaker for the opportunity given to me to make this statement.
Mr Speaker for the past two weeks, the Bono Regional House of Chiefs has been meeting on a very urgent issue emerging between the Bono and Savanna Regions about their boundary positions. This happened when a chief in Dollar Power sacked enumerators from the Bono Region from counting them with the reason that, the place belongs to the Savanna Region and that they will only allow enumerators from Savanna to
undertake the exercise for them. Even though these communities lie in the Bono Region.
Mr Speaker, similar boundary disputes exist between other regions in the country, that is, there is a similar problem between Greater Accra Region and the Central Region in Kasoa and Amanforom. There is also another dispute between Eastern Region and the Greater Accra Region in Obuom Domeabra and Amasaman.
In the Eastern corridor, one cannot lose sight of the unfortunate situation in the Volta and Oti Regions which has resulted in some people not having representation in this House of Parliament.
One can also cite what happened between the Greater Accra and Eastern Region and the threat
of force being used by some chiefs to forcefully shift the boundary.
Some of the effects of these Boundary Disputes are as follows:
- Over 6000 structures in the Banda District were not enumerated.
This has the potential of undermining the credibility of the 2021 Population and Housing Census. - There was a brutal civilian-military clash in the Domfaase community in Obom-Domeabra in Accra, where atleast three (3) people lost their lives and over 300 people get injured, whilst properties worth millions of cedis got destroyed and missing through massive looting.
- In the Oti and Volta Regions, the people of Lolobi, Santrokofi, Akpafu and Likpe (SALL) have no representation in this 8th Parliament.
Recommendations:
- I recommend Mr. Speaker to direct the joint committees for Lands and Natural Resources, Local Government and Rural Development and Defence and Interior to assist the Ghana Boundary Commission which is responsible for internal boundary dispute settlement, to investigate the matter for amicable dispute settlement and to report back to the house.
- The census committee to carry on the enumeration at the disputed areas with reference to the time lines.
- The Ministry for National Security and the Regional Security committee of the affected areas must assist the Ghana Statistical Council for the exercise to be conducted (Population and Housing Census).
Thank you.
