"Given the current map, with so much land suddenly added, and considering the need to govern the newly occupied territories, I think we should reform the existing administrative divisions," Constantin said.
East Africa currently had eighteen administrative regions, with two areas that had not yet been assigned administrative divisions and remained under military occupation: the southwest (Zambia) and the northeast (Somalia).
Of these eighteen major administrative regions, seventeen lay in the east. Beyond Mbeya, only East Katanga District lay in the southwest.
Among the seventeen administrative regions, aside from Central District and the northern Omorart Special District, the other fifteen were distributed across the former Tanzania, Kenya, and Great Lakes Region.
Constantin had long wanted to reform East Africa's administrative divisions. East Africa was vast and sparsely populated, while the eastern administrative regions had been divided too finely. Each region had a small population, which was a considerable waste of administrative resources.
More importantly, the territorial changes brought about by East Africa's expansion had made the original major regions seem inadequate, especially in terms of defense.
For example, in the south bordering Portugal, the Ruvuma River basin was divided into East Lake Malawi Region and Lower Coastal Region. These two administrative regions should be merged into one.
That would better address the potential threat from the Portuguese colony. Moreover, East Lake Malawi Region had too little presence. Centered on Songea, it clearly could not compete with Mbeya. Lower Coastal Region, meanwhile, possessed the fine harbor of Mtwara, and its capital, Roenroda, had developed well. One of the purposes behind building Mtwara's port had been to serve both East Lake Malawi Region and Lower Coastal Region. Therefore, from the perspectives of national defense, economy, complementarity, and administrative costs, the two regions should be merged.
There was also Middle Coastal Region, whose