GOVT TAKES MEASURES TO DEVELOP 3 NORTHERN REGIONS (PAGE 43, MAY 29, 2010)

IT is no doubt that the three northern regions have time and again been cited as the poorest in Ghana.
In 2007, the conditions of poverty were further heightened as a result of draught and floods that hit the north resulting in widespread food crop and property loss.
The extenuating factor to the misery was the renewed interest in the accelerated development of the three regions through pragmatic policy initiatives.
During the last days of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, the then President of the Republic, Mr J.A. Kufuor, called for action on a long-term development initiative for northern Ghana through the establishment of the Northern Development Fund (NDF) with a seed money of GH¢25 million.
The NDF Bill was passed on November 7, 2008 and given presidential assent on December 4, the same year.
The renewed interest also found space in the manifestos of the two major political parties, the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), for the 2008 general election. For instance, the presidential candidate of the NPP pledged to put $1 billion into the fund if elected while that of the NDC also made similar promises.
On assumption of office in 2009, the NDC government, which emerged winners of the polls, proposed the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) with a vision and mandate to accelerate the socio-economic development of the savannah belt.
Funding for SADA, according to the NDC government, would initially come from a special development fund with a start-up contribution of GH¢200 million. Additionally, there will be an annual contribution of a GH¢100 million for 20 years.
Many well-meaning Ghanaians and development partners have welcomed the political commitments to address visible developmental gap between northern and southern Ghana.
In view of this, SEND Ghana and the Northern Development Forum, both non-governmental organisations (NGOs), have organised a series of forums to deliberate on the government’s initiative with a view of bringing on board new ideas towards the smooth implementation of the programme to achieve the desired goals.
At one of the forums held in Bolgatanga, it came to light that although the Cabinet had approved the draft SADA bill for consideration when Parliament resumes sitting in May, 2010, participants were of the view that as ultimate beneficiaries of the SADA initiative, there should have been a greater grass-roots participation in the formulation of the draft bill.
Their views were encapsulated in the statement made by the Paramount Chief of Bongo in the Upper East Region, Naba Salifu Alemyarum, who called for the active and constant engagement of citizens from the savannah regions to ensure that they identify with the final Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) Act when passed by Parliament.
According to him, apart from helping the people to own the policy, when individuals at the grass-roots level feel they contributed to the making of the policy, they will obliged to see to its effective implementation.
Naba Alemyarum was speaking at a day’s forum on the SADA organised by SEND-Ghana in collaboration with the Northern Development Forum. The aim of the forum was to, among other things, deepen citizens’ awareness and ownership of the SADA proposal.
Naba Alemyarum bemoaned the fact that not even the bill was made available to the beneficiaries through road shows to enable the people to make an input.
He, therefore, challenged Members of Parliament (MPs) from the beneficiary districts to scrutinise the bill and, if possible, engage the constituents in broad consultations to ensure that the views of those at the grass roots were incorporated in the final Act.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Owen Woyongo, observed that SADA was one of the programmes that the present government hoped to embark upon to address the imbalances in development or lopsided development in the country.
He said it was anticipated that investment through the SADA would be directed at the provision of roads and bridges to link inaccessible areas to maximise the use of fertile lands and provide irrigation facilities to address the erratic rainfall pattern and ensure all-year-round farming and thereby, eliminate or reduce the annual ritual of youth migration to the south in search of non-existent jobs.
Mr Woyongo, however, re-echoed the fact that various government initiatives to promote some economic development in northern Ghana would not yield any positive results, if the people did not put a stop to the numerous ethnic clashes and violence.
The regional minister entreated citizens in the three northern regions to eschew backbiting and the “pull him down attitude”, which he said was very common in the north.
“We should learn to solve our problem in-house instead of telling the whole world that these are the problems of the Upper East Region,” he stressed.
“If we don’t stop tearing one another apart, poverty, ignorance, and backwardness will continue to stare us in the face and posterity will never forgive us,” Mr Woyongo said.
As it stands now, SADA is indeed one of the programmes that the present government hopes to embark upon to address the imbalances in development.
It is therefore important for all who matter to put their shoulders to the wheel to propel the development of the savannah zone.