The Ahafo Region is a newly created

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

in Ghana with

Goaso Goaso is a town and the capital of the newly created Ahafo Region of Ghana. Goaso doubles as the capital of Asunafo North Municipal District. It is located between three major towns; Mim, Kukuom and Hwidiem. Other surrounding towns include Ayum ...

as its capital. The region has administrative and governmental legislature like all the ten already existing regions in Ghana. The region was carved out of the south-eastern part of the Brong Ahafo Region and was in fulfillment of a campaign promise made by New Patriotic Party. Prior to the 2016 Ghanaian general election, the then candidate

Nana Akufo-Addo Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ( ; born 29 March 1944) is a Ghanaian politician who has served as the president of Ghana since 7 January 2017. In 2020, he was re-elected for his second term, which will end on 6 January 2025. Akufo-Addo previously ...

declared that when elected, he would explore the possibility of creating new regions out of some of the existing regions in Ghana in order to bring government closer to citizens. The execution of plans for the creation of the regions was assigned to the newly created Ministry of Regional Reorganization and Development which is under the leadership of Hon. Dan Botwe.

Government of Ghana The Government of Ghana was created as a parliamentary democracy, followed by alternating military and civilian governments in Ghana. In January 1993, military government gave way to the Fourth Republic after presidential and parliamentary electi ...

ministry charged with the responsibility of supervising the creation of new regions in Ghana. In March 2017, the ministry sent the blue print for the creation of the region along with others to the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

. The council met over 36 times from the time of submission to August 2017. The final stage for the creation of the region was decided through a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

by the people within the catchment of the new region on 27 December 2018.

Major Towns

Administrative divisions

The political administration of the region is through the local government system. Under this administration system, the region is divided into six MMDA's (made up of 0 Metropolitan, 3 Municipal and 3 Ordinary Assemblies). Each District, Municipal or Metropolitan Assembly, is administered by a Chief Executive, representing the central government but deriving authority from an Assembly headed by a presiding member elected from among the members themselves. The current list is as follows:

History

on 27 December 2018 approved the creation of Ahafo Region. Out of a total of 307,108 registered votes, 277.663 took part in the referendum with 276,763 (99.68 per cent) voting in favour of the creation of the new region. 675 (0.24 per cent) rejected the motion and 225 rejected ballots representing 0.08% of total votes cast . The region was created on the 13th of February 2019 by Constitutional Instrument 114 . Goaso was announced as the capital of the new region.

Economy

Ahafo is endowed with rich natural resources such as

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

Diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...

Timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

etc. Gold deposit abounds in large quantities in the

Mim, Ahafo Mim is a city in the Asunafo North Municipal District in the Ahafo Region of Ghana. It is a nodal town between Sunyani and Goaso via the N12 road (Ghana), N12 Highway. The distance from Mim to Sunyani is 64 km whilst that of Mim to Goaso is ...

Kenyasi Kenyasi is a town in Ghana and it's the capital of the Asutifi North District in the Ahafo Region. Kenyasi is a combination of two towns: Kenyasi No.1 and Kenyasi No.2 Kenyasi has abundance of Gold resources hence Newmont, Ghana Ahafo mine hav ...

and

Yamfo Yamfo is a town in the Ahafo Region of Ghana. The town is known for the Yamfo Anglican Commercial School. The Anglican Commercial School is a second cycle institution. Also for the Yamfo College of Health which is affiliated with the University o ...

Areas. Newmont Gold Ghana Limited which is one of the biggest mining companies in the world, currently have their mining operations in the Kenyasi and Yamfo Areas. Ahafo being one of the forest belts in Ghana, has a lot of forest reserves. Timber industry is the second highest employer in the Region. There are large and medium timber companies scattered across the Region. Notable among the timber companies in the region are Ayum Forest Products Co. Ltd, Mim Exbo wood Co. Ltd, Ocean-wood Co. Ltd, Supremo-wood processing Co LTD, all in

. Ahafo Region is known to be the bread basket of Ghana. The soil type in the region supports the production of both food and cash crops. The region is known for its large

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

and

cashew The cashew tree (''Anacardium occidentale'') is a tropical evergreen tree native to South America in the genus ''Anacardium'' that produces the cashew seed and the cashew apple accessory fruit. The tree can grow as tall as , but the dwarf cult ...

productions. The major agro-processing company in the region is the Mim Cashew & Agric Products company LTD located at Mim, Ahafo. The Region needs more of the agro-processing companies to leverage on the Agricultural outputs produce by the Region.

Tourism

Tourist Attractions in the Ahafo Region are: *

Mim Bour Mim Bour or Mim Rocky-Mountains are located to the west of Mim (Ghana), Mim in Asunafo North Municipal District of Ahafo region, Ghana.https://www.mofep.gov.gh/sites/default/files/composite-budget/2019/BA/Asunafo-North.pdf Geography Mim Bour c ...

Mim Lake Mim lake, originally known as the Anwomasu Lake, is an Inland lake located on the outskirts of Mim in the Asunafo North Municipal District in the Ahafo Region of Ghana. The lake is a latent tourist site and has the potential of a lake Resort. ...

also in

* The White-necked Rockfowl conservation at Asumura * Okomfo Anokye tree at Sankore

Geography and climate

Location and size

The Ahafo Region is

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

ed on the north by the

Bono region The Bono region is one of the 16 administrative regions of Ghana. It is as a result of the remainder of Brong-Ahafo region when Bono East region and Ahafo region were created. Sunyani, also known as the green city of Ghana, is the regional capit ...

, the east by

Ashanti Region The Ashanti Region is located in southern part of Ghana and it is the third largest of 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of or 10.2 percent of the total land area of Ghana. In terms of population, however, it is the mo ...

, the west by the

, the south by the

Western North Region The Western North Region is one of the six new regions of Ghana created in 2019. The region is bounded by the Ivory Coast ( Comoé District) on the west, the Central region in the southeast, and the Ashanti, Ahafo, Bono East and Bono regions ...

and is made up of 6 districts.

Climate and vegetation

The Ahafo Region is part of the forest belt of Ghana and has a vegetation consists predominantly of fertile soil, grassland, especially

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

with clusters of drought-resistant trees such as

baobabs ''Adansonia'' is a genus made up of eight species of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). They are placed in the Malvaceae family, subfamily Bombacoideae. They are native to Madagascar, mainland Africa, and Australia.Tropi ...

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

s. Between December and April is the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...

. The

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

is between about July and November with an average annual rainfall of 750 to 1050 mm (30 to 40 inches). The highest temperatures are reached at the end of the dry season, the lowest in December and January. However, the hot

Harmattan The Harmattan is a season in West Africa that occurs between the end of November and the middle of March. It is characterized by the dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind, of the same name, which blows from the Sahara over West Africa into the ...

wind from the Sahara blows frequently between December and the beginning of February. The temperatures can vary between 14 °C (59 °F) at night and 40 °C (104 °F) during the day.

References

{{Authority control Regions of Ghana 2019 in Ghana States and territories established in 2019