HELP ACCELERATE DEVELOPMENT OF TAMALE (PAGE 29)

THE Deputy Commandant of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) in Accra, Brigadier General Adjetey Annan, has challenged development partners and residents of the Tamale metropolis to use the technical know-how available to them to accelerate the development of the area.
He said the metropolis had enormous potential, including vast arable stretch of land that was yet to be fully developed to improve the quality of life of its citizens.
“I would be happy to retire and stay here in Tamale, because I have seen the potential of this area. Those who have negative perception about the place will later discover that they made a mistake for not investing in the area,” Brigadier General Annan further pointed out.
The commandant stated this in an interview with journalists in Tamale when he led a 17-member delegation from the GAFCSC to undertake a week-long study tour of the region.
The delegation was made up of students and staff of the GAFCSC as well as some officers from the army in Nigeria, Rwanda, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone.
The tour enabled the delegation, particularly the students to acquaint themselves with the challenges facing the region. The students are expected to use such knowledge to produce their research work as part of their training.
The delegation was briefed on the security situation in the region, the impact of guinea worm and malaria on the people, the government’s poverty intervention measures, flooding, among other issues.
I promise you that Tamale and northern Ghana, for that matter, will forever not be a land of conflict as is the perception of some people. That trend will certainly change in the years ahead, the commandant observed.
“The most important thing now is for the people to use dialogue to settle their differences and to be committed to accelerating the development agenda of the area”.
He explained that the tour was an annual affair on the academic calendar of the GAFCSC and was aimed at exposing the students to the socio-economic and political challenges facing the regions they visited.
“We are training our students for middle-level appointments in the Ghana Armed Forces; we are also training them to take up similar appointments in our neighbouring countries,” he stated.
The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, told the delegation that the region’s major challenge was security, but stressed the need for the negative perception about the region to change.
He expressed optimism that the elections would be peaceful in the region.
The Deputy Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Jacob Mahama, stated that the region had only 20 doctors at post, which, he noted, did not augur well for effective health care service in the area.
According to him, last year, 532 died of malaria, adding that poor management and inadequate funds at the district level had also hindered effective health care in rural communities.
Touching on guinea worm, Dr Mahama said there were 450 cases of the disease in the region.