Background

The District was carved out of Wa District in 2004 by legislative instrument (LI 1751) under the Local Government Act 463, 1993. Wechiau is the capital of the District.

The District has 27 electoral areas and 5 area councils and is headed by District Chief Executive as the political leader. 1.1.1 Location and size The District is located in the western part of the Upper West Region, approximately between longitudes 9º 40’ N and 10º 10’ N and also between latitudes 2º 20’ W and 2º 50’ W.

 It shares boarders to the south with Northern Region, north-west by Nadowli District, east by Wa Municipal and to the west by Burkina Faso (see Fig. 1.1).

The total area of the District is approximately 1492.0 square km, representing about 10 percent of the region’s total land area. It is roughly trapezium in shape with the District capital, Wechiau, almost on the extreme western perimeter. The District capital is about 15.0 km away from Wa Municipal by rough road.

The proximity of Wa West District to Burkina Faso, however, places it in a good position to take advantage of suggestions made by the “Northern Development Initiative” which proposes the promotion of a Savannah-Sahel Regional Market amongst other initiatives.