ENSURE PASSAGE OF NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT FUND LEGISLATION (Daily Graphic Saturday November 1, 2008 PAGE 22)

THE Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA), an advocacy group based in the Upper East Region, has called on Members of Parliament (MPs) from the three northern regions to ensure that the legislative instrument on the Northern Development Fund (NDF) is passed before it dissolves.
The NDF with seed money of GH¢25 million was announced in the 2008 budget following the floods that hit the three northern regions in 2007, to pay special attention to the development needs of the northern parts of Ghana.
Addressing a news conference in Bolgatanga, the President of NORPRA, Mr Bismark Ayorogo Adongo, commended the government for its vision.
He, however, stated that although the money was woefully inadequate to fast track the bridging of the development gap between the north and the south, it was a practical demonstration of the government’s commitment to ensure a balanced development of the nation.
He said “Now that the executive arm of government has marshalled the political will to declare this heart warming policy, it behoves MPs from the north to support the process of the passage of the bill.”
“What prevents Parliament, especially the northern caucus, from marshalling the political will and pushing for the legislation? I guess the answer is that they are simply not interested in our welfare. They spend much of the time outside Parliament attending to personal issues and campaigning vigorously just to once again ride on the back of the ordinary man to power, expand the power and sustain it for personal gains,” he said.
According to Mr Adongo, the successful implementation of the policy would not only give hope to the hopeless and put smile on the faces of the poor and vulnerable groups in society through improved conditions of lives, but would also support the country’s efforts at achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
“The fund has very huge potential of adequately addressing the high rates of unemployment, illiteracy, malnutrition, bad road network, conflict, ignorance and disease in the north; nothing must therefore be done to sweep it under the carpet”, he said.
The NORPRA President therefore called on the northern parliamentary caucus to put aside their partisan interests and speed up the passage of the bill to ensure the implementation of the programmes of the Northern Development Fund.