The Electoral Commission is to embark on field trips next week to assess the feasibility of government’s proposal to create new district assemblies in all the 10 regions.

Section 1 (a) of the Local Government Act 2016, Act 936 places the responsibility on the Commission to review and make appropriate recommendations on the proposal. “A team each has been constituted for the ten regions to undertake a field study and submit reports accordingly,” a memo to EC’s regional directors stated. Each regional team would be led by the Commission member responsible for the region, it said.

The teams are to be guided by the fact that the population there is large enough with an appreciable number of economically active groups.

They have been asked to take into consideration the available economic activities in the proposed districts, looking at the revenue that could be derived through taxation like farming type, mining activities, daily or weekly market, banks, hospitals among others. Accessibility of the proposed district capital to other towns and villages in the district must also be taken into account.

The team embarking on the field study are expected to talk to stakeholders including chief executives of existing districts, traditional rulers, Presiding Member of Assembly, Members of Parliament in the affected areas and other opinion leaders.

The field trip will start from October 25 and end on November 10, 2017.