The Chairman of the Joint Consultative Committee for the Oti Movement – Nana Krachiwura Mprah Besemuna III – has condemned comments and actions that have the potential to affect the peace in the Volta Region.

According to him, the peace the region has been enjoying over the years should not be marred with unsavory comments and actions because “some people are for or against the creation of the Oti Region.”

He made the call when he chaired the inauguration of the Referendum Campaign Committee (RCC) for the proposed Oti Region. The RCC is among over things mandated to roam the nook and cranny of the proposed Oti enclave to secure 100% YES votes in the December referendum.

The eminent chief who controls a good part of the northern part of the Volta Region stressed that the desire for the creation of a new region out of the existing one has no ulterior motive and so those who are apprehensive and sending the wrong signals through provocative words, misinformation and beating of war drums should desist from that.

Oti Not for War

He stated that no amount of provocation or stumbling blocks would detract the focus of the people in the Oti enclave, saying “if you are on a journey and you stop to pick things that people have thrown at you and throw them back, you will never reach your destination and you will lose focus”.



He warned that “war is serious business and not an expedition to go and collect snails”. He asked all detractors to stop threatening proponents of the Oti Region in their quest to register their disapproval.

Nana Mprah Besemuna added that the creation of the region does not warrant a war and he does not anticipate one. However, the government should ensure that such utterances are checked and the lives of people protected as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.

Oti Not Tribal

The ‘tough’ spoken chief reiterated that the demand for a new region is not motivated by any tribal or ethnic consideration. To this end, any suggestion or imputation of tribal or ethnic agenda to their demand for a new region is either borne out of plain ignorance or deliberate mischief, both of which cannot serve as an excuse for the beating of war drums as some detractors seem to be doing.

He asserted: “We wish to state emphatically that the sole objective and purpose for the creation of the Oti Region is to bring about development to the people of the area.”

According to him, if resources allocated to the region over the years for developmental projects were equitably and fairly distributed, the people in the northern part would not be demanding for the creation of a new region.

Nana Mprah Besemuna was hopeful that after a resounding YES votes, the new region would help deepen decentralization which comes with its benefits in terms of governance, the injection of more resources into the area for accelerated development, creation of jobs, and the coordination of developmental programmes.