Explaining region creation conflicts in Ghana

Abstract

For the first time in its history, Ghana held a referendum in 2018 to divide some of its regions to create new ones. Though the regions are purely administrative, the division faced resistance in some areas and not in others. This study combines qualitative comparative analysis with process tracing to show that the resistance occurred within regions with relatively high support for the opposition party, but only in the combined presence of (traditional) elites competing from either side of the region and controversies regarding claims to (traditional) political authority. Further, it finds a bottom-up mechanism of the resistance, evolving as the threatened interests of stakeholders grew from the community to the regional, national and diaspora levels. As in other African cases, this suggests that the sources of conflicts in Africa are not so much about ethnic differences but more about elites’ unequal access to political and economic resources.

The impact of transport policies on road accessibility in Ghana (2010-2019)

“…As indicated in the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Creation of New Regions (GoG, 2018: xxii), "analysis of road inventories (…) in each of the six regions revealed that the network of roads does not adequately serve most rural people". It was also understood that the capitals of the new would be upgraded and provided with better links both to other regional capitals and to the district centers (Penu, 2022).…”