President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has named Dambai as the Capital of the newly created Oti Region.
He made the announcement on Friday at a durbar of the chiefs and people from the Oti Region at the Jubilee House in Accra, where he presented the Constitutional Instrument (CI112) creating the Region to the Paramount Chief of Karachi Traditional Area, Nana Mprah Besemuna III.
Carved out of the Volta Region, Oti, officially the 16th administrative region in Ghana, was one of the six regions created after last December's referendum to reorganize the existing 10 regions to facilitate development and the fast-tracking of the decentralization of the governance process.
Mr. Archibald Letsa, the Volta Regional Minister, would administer the Region until a substantive minister is appointed.
The ceremony wrapped up the process of creating the six new regions.
Consequently, Ghana is now comprised of Upper East, Upper West, Northern, Savannah, North East, Brong Ahafo, Bono East, Ahafo, Western North, Western, Eastern, Ashanti, Central, Greater Accra, Volta and Oti regions.
An amount of GHC20 million each has been earmarked as seed money for the six new regions created out of the Northern, Western, Brong Ahafo and Volta regions.
President Akufo-Addo assured the people of the Oti Region that government was committed to the growth and development of the area and would spare no effort to ensuring that projects and infrastructure reached all areas in the Region.
He urged the chiefs and people of the new region as well as the five other regions, which were created with strict adherence to the provisions under the Constitution, to work together to make their regions great.
The President said the Government would sustain the momentum that characterized the creation of the new regions and would speed up the process to get them at par with all other existing regions.
Thus, a committee of seven ministers, chaired by the Minister of Regional Reorganisation and Development, Mr. Dan Botwe, had been created to plan the immediate, short, medium, and long term development of the new regions.
The Committee has the ministers of Planning, Prof Gyan Baffuor, Local Government and Rural Development, Madam Alima Mahama, Special Development Initiatives, Madam Mavis Hawa Koomson, Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, National Security, Mr. Albert Kan Dapaah, and Presidential Advisor, Dr. Kwame Amoako Tuffuor, as members.