No, Mahama did not just grant Wa Metropolitan status
CLAIM: Multiple Facebook users claim that Wa Municipal was granted Metropolitan status on "today," September 6, 2026, crediting President John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the decision.
VERDICT: FALSE. The executive approval for Wa Municipal’s upgrade to metropolitan status was granted by then-President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on December 4, 2024, not by President John Dramani Mahama and not on September 6, 2026.
The December 2024 announcement itself stated that the upgrade was “pending finalisation of all necessary legal and administrative processes.” Ghana’s Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936) requires the establishment of a District Assembly for a metropolis by legislative instrument. As of the date of the viral posts, Wa’s own official assembly website continued to identify the institution as the Wa Municipal Assembly, while no new September 6, 2026 official announcement confirming a completed upgrade was found.
Full Text
On September 6, 2026, several Facebook users posted what they described as "BREAKING NEWS," claiming that Wa Municipal in the Upper West Region had "today" been granted Metropolitan status.
Facebook user, SK Adams, whose post (archive here) drew 342 reactions, 48 comments and 5 shares, as of September 6, wrote: "Breaking News!! 6th September, 2026 Wa has been granted a Metropolitan status. Thank you, NDC's President John Dramani Mahama."
A similarly worded post (archived here) by another user, Faiza Abdulai, drew 439 reactions, 60 comments and 4 shares, and a third by the page Political Hazard (post, archived) drew 340 reactions, 22 comments and 5 shares as of the same period.
Several other users, including Rosalius Kuusonne (post, archived), Luri John Mahama (post, archived), Sawaare Jacob (post, archived) and Yunus Mahama (post, archived), shared versions of the same claim.
Screenshots of the viral claim on Facebook
The posts attracted mixed reactions. Some users appeared to take the claim at face value; Angsobie RealLife, commenting under SK Adams' post, wrote, "And I pray the human beings upgrade their mentality to suit Metropolitan status," suggesting he believed the upgrade had genuinely just happened.
Others were more skeptical. Under SK Adams’ post, Evans Ibn Samba asked, “On Sunday??? Who granted it?” and under Faiza Abdulai's post, he asked "Is it not the same old document from the Akufo-Addo's local government Minister that has been recirculated or there is something new??" Dramani File similarly asked, "A new letter or the letter written under Akufo-Addo?"
Given the claim's virality and the political credit-claiming embedded in it, Info Radio decided to verify it.
Verification
The approval was announced under Akufo-Addo in December 2024
Multiple contemporaneous reports confirm that then-President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo granted executive approval for the Wa Municipal Assembly, alongside the Ho, Sunyani and New Juaben South Municipal Assemblies, to be upgraded to metropolitan status.
This was announced by the then-Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, in a press statement on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, citing a request from the Ministry under the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936). The same statement upgraded three districts – Offinso North, Birim North and Karaga – to municipal status
Press statement by then Local Government minister, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah
Reports published at the time by several Ghanaian media organisations, including Info Radio, 3News, Citi News, Graphic Online and the Daily Guide Network, all dated December 2024, roughly 21 months before the viral Facebook posts, named Akufo-Addo, not Mahama, as the president who granted the executive approval.
This means that the viral claim that President Mahama granted Wa metropolitan status on September 6, 2026 is not supported by the chronology.
Moreover, Mahama assumed office in January 2025, more than a month after the December 2024 announcement was made.
The 2024 approval was not the end of the legal process
The December 2024 announcement is also important for another reason.
The Ministry did not present the upgrades as having completed every legal and administrative step. It stated: "Accordingly, the following Municipal and District Assemblies are duly upgraded pending finalisation of all necessary legal and administrative processes."
Section 3(1) of the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936) requires that "the Minister shall, by legislative instrument, establish a District Assembly for each district, municipality and metropolis" – meaning a Legislative Instrument (LI) must still be drafted, laid before Parliament, and gazetted before the upgrade takes full legal effect. Info Radio found no published Legislative Instrument, Gazette notice, or Ministry statement confirming this process has been completed for Wa at the time of this verification.
The legal framework therefore distinguishes between executive approval for an upgrade and the legislative instrument required to establish the relevant District Assembly. This distinction is reflected in the government's own subsequent actions.
On June 25, 2026, then-Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Ahmed Ibrahim told Parliament that a committee's report, which committee was chaired NDC National Chairman Asiedu Nketiah, recommending the upgrading of 20 districts to municipalities and 12 municipalities to metropolitan status had been submitted to President Mahama for consideration and executive approval.
He further explained that once approval was received, the Ministry would initiate the required legal processes, including laying a Legislative Instrument before Parliament.
The June 2026 parliamentary disclosure therefore shows that the government continued to treat executive approval and the subsequent legal process as distinct stages.
Wa's own official website still identifies it as a municipal assembly
Info Radio checked the official website of the Wa Assembly (https://wamunicipal.gov.gh/). As of September 7, 2026, the website continued to identify the institution as the Wa Municipal Assembly and referred to its chief executive as the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE).
Screenshot of Wa Municipal Assembly’s website. Date: September 7, 2026
Its September 5, 2026 publication on a monthly clean-up exercise (archived here) also referred to the institution as the Wa Municipal Assembly. The Assembly's 2026 news archive likewise continues to use the name “Wa Municipal Assembly.”
This is important because the viral posts claim that a new metropolitan status had been granted on September 6, 2026, yet no corresponding September 6 announcement announcing such an upgrade was found on the Assembly's official website.
No new September 6 announcement found
Info Radio searched for a new official announcement from the presidency, the Ministry responsible for local government and the Wa Municipal Assembly concerning a fresh grant of metropolitan status to Wa on September 6, 2026. No such announcement was found.
The only document matching the substance of the viral claim is the December 4, 2024 Ministry statement issued under the Akufo-Addo administration.
Conclusion
The claim that Wa was granted Metropolitan status "today" on September 6, 2026, and that Ghanaians should thank NDC President John Dramani Mahama for it, is false.
The executive approval for Wa's upgrade was announced on December 4, 2024, under former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, not President Mahama. The announcement itself stated that the upgrade was pending the finalisation of necessary legal and administrative processes.
The Local Governance Act, 2016 requires a legislative instrument to establish a District Assembly for a metropolis.
As of the date of the viral posts, Wa's own official website continued to identify the institution as the Wa Municipal Assembly, and Info Radio found no new official announcement dated September 6, 2026 confirming that the metropolitan status had been legally finalised.
The viral Facebook posts therefore appear to have recycled the December 2024 announcement, presented it as a new September 2026 development, and wrongly attributed the original executive approval to President John Dramani Mahama..
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