VEEP CALLS FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY (SEPT 26, SPREAD)

THE Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has bemoaned the lack of institutional framework which enjoins successive governments to build on the foundations of previous administrations.
He expressed regret that some local industries in northern Ghana, including the Tamale industrial area created by Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, had deteriorated.
Addressing a national forum on the Northern Development Agenda (NDA) in Tamale on Thursday, Mr Mahama, therefore, entreated residents of northern Ghana to avoid all forms of political divisiveness and rather unite to address the common development challenges facing the area.
He equally stressed the need for them to use politics as a platform to promote the development agenda of northern Ghana, saying “we must try to build on what others have done, although we might not have the same political ideologies”.
He observed that Dr Nkrumah lived up to expectation in launching the northern scholarship fund, as well as other interventions that enabled farmers to increase their wealth.
“There was prosperity and farmers were capable of purchasing their own tractors to the extent that many public servants who hitherto had refused postings to the north came and created wealth for themselves through farming,” he noted.
The Vice-President said several years after Dr Nkrumah’s vision, subsidies on agricultural inputs were cut, while the issue of divestiture, which allowed the private sector to manage some industries, impacted negatively on the growth of such industries as the managers lacked the needed capacity to transform the industries into viable ones.
According to him, there was the need to make northern Ghana an industrial hub for the savannah and Sahelian regions.
Mr Mahama observed that as part of the government’s commitment to the NDA, it had formed the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) as a strategy to ensure long-term expedited development for the northern part of the country.
He announced that the government had pledged to commit GH¢200 million over the next four years to give SADA the needed impetus for its smooth take-off.
The Vice-President explained that the high poverty levels in the Brong Ahafo Region, the northern parts of the Volta Region and the three northern regions remained the greatest challenge to the SADA.
He further said SADA would be integrated into the National Development Plan, saying, “by the close of this year, we hope to pass the SADA into an Act of Parliament for its speedy implementation”.
The Northern Regional Minister, Mr Stephen Nayina, noted that peace was a prerequisite to the realisation of the objectives of the NDA and urged residents of the area to avoid conflicts.
The Country Director of SEND Ghana, Mr Samuel Akologo, called for political commitment that was “visible and demonstrable” to ensure the success of the NDA.
The Chairman of the Northern Development Forum, Dr Hakeem Wemah, stressed the need for a new model of politics that would enhance accelerated development of the northern Ghana.
The forum, on the theme, “Northern Development Agenda: Citizens’ call for action now”, was attended by politicians, representatives from non-governmental organisations, civil society groups and traditional authorities.
It was aimed, among other objectives, at seeking feedback from public office holders regarding the implementation of the NDA.
The forum was organised by SEND Ghana in partnership with the NDF.