The Tempane District, one of the 38 newly created local government areas in Ghana, has been inaugurated Thursday in the Upper East region with a call by an elated Paramount Chief of Bawku, Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, on traditional chiefs to release lands for the development of the new district.

The monarch joined government officials, heads of departments and hundreds of residents to welcome what he described as the sixth district in the Kusaug Kingdom.

Prominent among the government officials were the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, who is also the legislator for Tempane, Joseph Dindiok Kpemka, as well as Ghana’s Ambassador to the Vatican, Joseph Akudibillah.

“We are proud to have our administrative districts now being increased from 5 to 6 to enhance administrative and development progress,” the Paramount Chief told a joyful crowd Thursday at Tempane through his spokesperson, Naba Akuolug Thomas Abilla.

He acknowledged there would be “some initial teething challenges” as the new assembly takes off, but he also spoke about how government would “play its part by providing the required facilities in deficit”.

“I personally notice that there would be some initial teething challenges to be sorted out and dealt with appropriately. Some of these include the sharing of resources with the Garu District, both financial and physical structures. This should not be allowed to degenerate into acrimonious proportions. After all, the citizens of both Garu and Tempane districts are brothers and sisters and, therefore, there should be no selfishness but equity,” stressed Bawku Naba.

Residents express Expectations

The crowd at the inaugural ceremony swelled considerably by the minute as diverse cultural troupes from the Kusaug Kingdom and the nearby Republic of Togo entertained proud-looking spectators.

Not too far from the ceremony ground, artisans could be seen feverishly planting a big signpost that points at a yet-to-be-painted structure the new assembly intends to use for its offices. The vim with which labourers at the new assembly’s building were putting things in order, as the inaugural proceedings were underway on the same plot, mirrored how desperate they were to beat a deadline.

Ten blue motorised tricycles and 30 waste bins, provided by the Zoomlion Ghana Limited (a waste management company) for the new district, were arraigned at the ground of the event.

The company’s General Manager in charge of the Upper East region, Abubakar Issaka, told the gathering in a goodwill message the package was meant for the district to “kick-start” its “sanitation operations”.

“As a way of creating more job openings, we have initiated plans to decentralise the recycling of plastics at the district level. This will also reduce the amount of waste that end up at the final disposal site,” added the General Manager.

A similar package was presented simultaneously for same purpose at the inauguration of the Bolgatanga East District, another new administrative area in a region that now has 15 local government areas— 3 municipalities and 12 districts.

“We are very happy and proud. The development that we will have will be so much. The creation of the new district means that the youth will be employed in different sectors, there will be development on the road network, there will be development in the health sector, some clinics will be declared as health centres and the markets will open up. Many people will benefit. We have received our new district as our new wife,” the Assemblyman for Basyonde Sabzunde Electoral Area, Solomon Asang, told Starr News at the ceremony ground.

Be focused— Central Government tells new District

The Upper East Regional Minister, Rockson Emmanuel Ayine Bukari, who led the government delegation at the function, delivered a speech on the need for the new district to stay focused and pursue an "agenda of development".

“It is obvious that an enormous responsibility is placed on the shoulders of the assemblies regarding deeper political and administrative decentralisation, decentralised planning, fiscal decentralisation and improving popular participation.

“While the government is spearheading the efforts at accelerating and sustaining decentralisation, I entreat all of you as stakeholders to be focused, committed and pursue the agenda of development with one purpose. We should endeavour to make the decentralisation agenda work by minimising agitations on siting of district capitals, election of presiding members, appointment of government nominees, chief executives and provision of critical facilities in parts of the communities,” the Regional Minister urged.

There is, perhaps, no better way for a new district to take off than with the colour and the culture fully on display at the ceremony as eyes are now looking forward to who becomes the first ever District Chief Executive and Presiding Member of the new district.

And surely, there will be all-night parties tonight as both Garu and Tempane, though administrative apart henceforth, remain united to their common roots in the Kusaug Kingdom.