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Since the return to constitutional rule in 1993, successive governments have had to contend with agitations for the creation of new districts and regions. In few cases, ethnic and tribal arguments have informed these demands. However, generally speaking, it could be admitted that development considerations have been at the centre of most of such agitations. Mainly, new districts and regions could be created out of existing ones for administrative or strategic convenience. For instance, the Greater Accra Region was carved up out of the then Eastern Region, because it became obvious that Accra, being the national capital, would sap the rest of the region of resources if it was not given a separate administrative set-up, as had become the norm in many countries, and allow the rest of the region to stand on its own. This could be likened to the creation of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Nigeria, when Abuja became the new Federal Capital of Nigeria. But whatever the reason, at the end of the day, the decision must not remain a mere political or administrative exercise, but one that would satisfy the intended objectives. As stated earlier, the agitation for new districts and regions stem mainly from development concerns. There are many who believe, whether rightly or wrongly, that their areas would attract more development if they have their own separate districts or regions. This is a debatable issue, but it is easy to realise that most of the older districts have not improved in terms of developments. There may be a few things here and there, such as a district police station, one or two financial institutions opening branches in the district capital, a bungalow or two for the political head of the district and a few other senior public servants, and that would be all. The roads may still remain untarred, accommodation for public servants may not be adequate (that is, if there are some at all), health facilities may be poor, educational facilities and other development infrastructure may be so bad that many people would refuse accepting posting to these places. This is the general picture of most of our district capitals. The fortunes of most of our districts are not better than those of their capitals. Incidentally, it is the desire to have more development projects that many communities demand their own districts. The same can be said for existing regions and their administrative capitals. Some of these regions and their administrative capitals are as old as the Republic of Ghana, but are yet to come near anything that could be described as developed. It can, therefore, be argued that if it is for administrative convenience, then creation of new districts or regions could make sense, but if it is for development purposes, then we must raise more convincing arguments in that direction, since there are very little historical facts to support it. In a federal system, where states are autonomous and run their own budgets, things may be different. In some federal systems too, the constitution makes it mandatory for every state to have certain facilities, for which the federal government must provide funds. Unfortunately, ours is a unitary system and totally reliant on one national budget. So development generally is at the behest of the central government. This is one of the reasons why the quest for political power has taken such a dramatic turn for the worse, with people fighting tooth and nail to get closer to the centre of power in order to grab some development projects for their areas. The agitation for new districts and regions has become a regular part of our political life and currently on the table is the debate to create or not to create a new region out of the present Northern and Volta regions. The argument for another region from the Northern Region is that the place is vast and makes administration very difficult. It is very true that the Northern Region is very big � in fact, it remains the biggest region in the country in terms of land mass. It is also true that with such a vast land with very little infrastructure, especially good roads, administering the region will be very difficult. The tribal argument that the portion belonging to a particular tribal group should be demarcated from the rest of the region to create a new region can only appeal to those who are not interested in development but nursing a grandiose idea close to building an empire. That will not be good enough for such a unitary state as Ghana. Those in the northern part of the Volta Region are also making a similar argument of size to justify their own region. The Volta Region is very long, but not too big for effective administration. What the region lacks and which is common to almost all the regions of this country is poor infrastructure. As has been experienced after the creation of new districts, the siting of the administrative capitals themselves becomes a contentious issues sometimes, leading to violent confrontations. That is why it is easier said than done. But more importantly, the real issues must be addressed, since the agitation for new districts and regions only diverts attention from the real situation on the ground. I stated earlier that the country as a whole has common problems that are manifested in the conditions in the regions. Mention can be made of the poor transportation network which makes us take long hours or even days to cover short distances. A railway system which was functional in the pre-colonial and immediate post-independence days, but which has collapsed instead of being improved and covering the whole of the country by now. The least said about air transportation, the better. The road network is not in any good shape either. Other infrastructure, including health, education, water and sanitation, agriculture are still in very primitive states. We have a development system which places emphasis on investing a huge part of our national resources in Accra, instead of developing the regions and opening them to serious business. In desperation, people have come up with that conviction that creating more districts or regions will solve their problems. That is far from the truth. What we should bear in mind is that every new district or region created is another administrative burden that must be carried by the taxpayer. Already, Accra is sapping the energy of the national economy by paying a huge bureaucracy with very little remaining for real development. A new district means a new bureaucracy to sustain the new district administrations, including all the political office holders and their civil service counterparts. It means paying people for not necessarily doing anything. It means buying and servicing more vehicles for the comfort of a few. It means more official accommodation for a few people, to the neglect of the vast majority of the population. If at the district level so much could be spent to sustain administrative structures and personnel, one could imagine the magnitude of the problem at the regional level when a new one is created. A new region automatically means new districts. So apart from new infrastructure for the regional administration, new infrastructure must be built for the new districts. Under conditions of good reason and sober-headedness, there would be no conflict over the siting of district and regional capitals if the ultimate objective is to bring development very close to the people. Otherwise, we would only have succeeded in creating bureaucracies of gigantic proportions that would drain our limited resources which otherwise would have been channelled into development projects. What we must begin to do is to demand more accountability from our political and other public office holders who, as of now, appear to be feeding fat on our national resources. Consider how people are becoming desperate to hold political office by fair means or foul and it paints a good picture of what is happening in our public service. We must also demand that more money is spent on infrastructure in the regions, especially in the rural areas, to make those places more habitable instead of pouring everything into Accra which has become like a bottomless pit, swallowing everything poured into it without showing any signs of abating. We must demand that the country is opened up with good roads, rail network and air transportation to reduce it in size. The agitation will end if people get what they want wherever they are in any part of the country. The rate at which ministers, deputy ministers, special advisors and special assistants are springing up in Accra, each with his/her administrative and financial burden on the poor taxpayer, we will be doing ourselves more harm than good, if we should put our hopes in the creation of more districts and regions. Ghana is too small to be fragmented into so many pieces. It could even be that the more districts and regions we create, the more divided we become.