The Mayor of Tamale, Musah Iddrisu Superior has proposed to government to consider carving an additional constituency out of the Tamale South constituency in the northern region.
According to him, this should be done to ensure effective and efficient local government management.
The Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive during a tour of the constituency to monitor the ongoing registration exercise with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament hopeful for the area, said there is no logical reasoning for such big constituency to be handled by one legislator.
The Mayor’s proposal renews similar calls in recent years for government to initiate considerable measures to have an additional constituency in Tamale.
There were several petitions prior to the creation of some new constituencies in 2012 under the erstwhile NDC administration that effect.
Members of the Northern Progressive Youth Group based in the Tamale South in 2017 strongly advocated the creation a new constituency, citing lack of infrastructure development and basic social amenities to improve the people’s standard of living.
In view of this, the Tamale Chief Executive said the present status quo undermines growth and economic transformation.
“Where we have larger population in bigger constituency, it is always difficult for the MP to reach out to everybody and meet the development aspirations of every community in the area”, he explained.
Consequently, the Tamale Mayor said the decision to create a new constituency from Tamale South is long overdue since there is no justifiable reason to keep it as it is now.
The constituency shares boundaries with the East Gonja municipality and Central Gonja district in the Savannah region as well as Mion and Nanton districts in the northern region.
The Tamale South constituency has a voter population of more than 100,000 with 186 polling stations in 32 electoral areas.
As a result, the Mayor thinks it is time for government to carefully and cogently look into the matter and initiate the necessary processes to split the constituency, which is currently occupied by the Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Haruna Iddrisu.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with THE CUSTODIAN, the MCE maintained that this will bridge the development gap between the Tamale Central sub-metro and Tamale South sub-metro, which is predominantly rural settlement for growth to thrive.
