Albert Abongo
Albert Abongo - Special page. About the new Upper East Regional Minister / NDC (2016)
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Helmets to be imposed on defiant motorists
he Upper East Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Bongo, Albert Abongo, has announced the region will soon import protective helmets and force motorcyclists caught bareheaded to buy them on the spot.
The action is driven by the spate of road crashes in the area in recent times.
“When you are riding or driving, you watch; complete carelessness. No regulations. We are losing a lot of our youth. Some are getting seriously maimed. Simple accidents, they get their heads knocked on the ground and they are dying or getting maimed as a result. I have a problem with that. For me, one intervention is I will tell the police to get a businessman who can import helmets. When he brings the helmets, when you’re caught, whether you have a helmet in the house or not, you will buy. You will just go to the shop and buy a fresh one. I will discuss it with the police,” the minister stated when he addressed the coalition of SADA sone CSO’s who paid a courtesy call on him at Bolgatanga, the Upper East regional capital.
The action is driven by the spate of road crashes in the area in recent times.
“When you are riding or driving, you watch; complete carelessness. No regulations. We are losing a lot of our youth. Some are getting seriously maimed. Simple accidents, they get their heads knocked on the ground and they are dying or getting maimed as a result. I have a problem with that. For me, one intervention is I will tell the police to get a businessman who can import helmets. When he brings the helmets, when you’re caught, whether you have a helmet in the house or not, you will buy. You will just go to the shop and buy a fresh one. I will discuss it with the police,” the minister stated when he addressed the coalition of SADA sone CSO’s who paid a courtesy call on him at Bolgatanga, the Upper East regional capital.
The Upper East Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Bongo, Albert Abongo, has announced the region will soon import protective helmets and force motorcyclists caught bareheaded to buy them on the spot.
The action is driven by the spate of road crashes in the area in recent times.
“When you are riding or driving, you watch; complete carelessness. No regulations. We are losing a lot of our youth. Some are getting seriously maimed. Simple accidents, they get their heads knocked on the ground and they are dying or getting maimed as a result. I have a problem with that. For me, one intervention is I will tell the police to get a businessman who can import helmets. When he brings the helmets, when you’re caught, whether you have a helmet in the house or not, you will buy. You will just go to the shop and buy a fresh one. I will discuss it with the police,” the minister stated when he addressed the coalition of SADA sone CSO’s who paid a courtesy call on him at Bolgatanga, the Upper East regional capital.
The meeting discussed way to advance the cause of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority and general security in the area.
Why Upper East motorists despises helmets
At least 192 road crashes hit the region in 2015, leaving 183 people injured and 64 dead. The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) attributed most of the deaths to speeding and failure to wear protective helmets.
Many motorcyclists in the region hardly wear protective helmets for a number of reasons. According to the Upper East Regional Manager of the NRSC, Mohammed Atilado, residents are shunning helmets because they produce heat and they disorganise the hairdos of women.
“Especially with the women, because of their hairdo; when they wear the helmet, it disorganises their hairdo. And generally because of the heat, some don’t want to wear helmet. Also when you are on helmet, you don’t hear when someone is calling you from afar. Others say they don’t feel comfortable at all when they wear helmet,” Mr. Atilado told Starr News.
Head injuries major cause of accident deaths
The leading causes of fatal crashes in the region, according to the NSRC, are speeding and refusal on the part of motorcyclists to wear crash helmets.
“Most of the victims here are motor riders the majority of whom don’t wear crash helmets. So, as soon as they get the crash, they definitely have head injuries which lead to death. We think that wearing of helmets will help reduce the number of people who die,” Mr. Atilado once remarked in an interview with Starr News.
Early this month, 14 people were arrested in Bolgatanga for a number of road-safety-related offences during a special operation launched by the Upper East Regional Police Command. The accused persons have been heavily fined by the court on charges ranging from driving with expired licence and expired road worthiness certificates, riding unregistered motorcycles, driving without seat belts to riding without protective crash helmets among others.
Police too hard on us? Coalition
Security issues raised by members of the Coalition of SADA zone CSOs during the meeting with the minister bordered on alleged harsh treatment from the police and the wave of armed robbery attacks in the region.
“The police have been very hard on us. We are not saying they should not arrest us. But we are saying that when they do, they should be professional. They take a lot of money from us. They can take between forty and seventy cedis when they arrest you [riding] without helmets,” Seidu Mustapha, a representative of the Upper East Youth Association, said.
Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health, Noble Asakeya Alagskomah, suggested a revisit to the community watchdog model to help stem the tide of armed robbery in the region.
“The other thing we want to raise is that you appeal to your MDCEs to revisit the community watchdog concept. The police are doing well; but the number of the citizenry outweighs the number of the police. So, if we revisit that concept, the crime wave can be properly managed,” Mr. Alagskomah said. - Source; Starrfmonline. com / 25.03.2016
The action is driven by the spate of road crashes in the area in recent times.
“When you are riding or driving, you watch; complete carelessness. No regulations. We are losing a lot of our youth. Some are getting seriously maimed. Simple accidents, they get their heads knocked on the ground and they are dying or getting maimed as a result. I have a problem with that. For me, one intervention is I will tell the police to get a businessman who can import helmets. When he brings the helmets, when you’re caught, whether you have a helmet in the house or not, you will buy. You will just go to the shop and buy a fresh one. I will discuss it with the police,” the minister stated when he addressed the coalition of SADA sone CSO’s who paid a courtesy call on him at Bolgatanga, the Upper East regional capital.
The meeting discussed way to advance the cause of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority and general security in the area.
Why Upper East motorists despises helmets
At least 192 road crashes hit the region in 2015, leaving 183 people injured and 64 dead. The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) attributed most of the deaths to speeding and failure to wear protective helmets.
Many motorcyclists in the region hardly wear protective helmets for a number of reasons. According to the Upper East Regional Manager of the NRSC, Mohammed Atilado, residents are shunning helmets because they produce heat and they disorganise the hairdos of women.
“Especially with the women, because of their hairdo; when they wear the helmet, it disorganises their hairdo. And generally because of the heat, some don’t want to wear helmet. Also when you are on helmet, you don’t hear when someone is calling you from afar. Others say they don’t feel comfortable at all when they wear helmet,” Mr. Atilado told Starr News.
Head injuries major cause of accident deaths
The leading causes of fatal crashes in the region, according to the NSRC, are speeding and refusal on the part of motorcyclists to wear crash helmets.
“Most of the victims here are motor riders the majority of whom don’t wear crash helmets. So, as soon as they get the crash, they definitely have head injuries which lead to death. We think that wearing of helmets will help reduce the number of people who die,” Mr. Atilado once remarked in an interview with Starr News.
Early this month, 14 people were arrested in Bolgatanga for a number of road-safety-related offences during a special operation launched by the Upper East Regional Police Command. The accused persons have been heavily fined by the court on charges ranging from driving with expired licence and expired road worthiness certificates, riding unregistered motorcycles, driving without seat belts to riding without protective crash helmets among others.
Police too hard on us? Coalition
Security issues raised by members of the Coalition of SADA zone CSOs during the meeting with the minister bordered on alleged harsh treatment from the police and the wave of armed robbery attacks in the region.
“The police have been very hard on us. We are not saying they should not arrest us. But we are saying that when they do, they should be professional. They take a lot of money from us. They can take between forty and seventy cedis when they arrest you [riding] without helmets,” Seidu Mustapha, a representative of the Upper East Youth Association, said.
Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health, Noble Asakeya Alagskomah, suggested a revisit to the community watchdog model to help stem the tide of armed robbery in the region.
“The other thing we want to raise is that you appeal to your MDCEs to revisit the community watchdog concept. The police are doing well; but the number of the citizenry outweighs the number of the police. So, if we revisit that concept, the crime wave can be properly managed,” Mr. Alagskomah said. - Source; Starrfmonline. com / 25.03.2016
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Police, public in blame game over hotlineUpper East is a funny place. The police gunned down a notorious gang leader at his hideout. As expected, the public jumped in disorderly celebration but with caution. Then, surprisingly, sour tales soon overtook that celebration that the bereaved members of the armed gang had reclaimed the body of the leader and had humourlessly announced their intention to snatch thirty posh motorcycles at any cost and sell them to raise funds to perform the funeral of their slain mentor.
In a separate development, a manager of a radio station in the region was robbed of his motorcycle by another gang. Soon after the incident was mentioned on air the following day, someone called the victim anonymously, directing him as to how to repossess his bike at a fee. He was furnished with a contact to a gang leader. The gang leader, just trying to be sure if the item was among the stolen goods in his warehouse or not, asked the victim a number of questions on the phone. |
Gang leader: Where did they stop you?
Victim: Around the junction to the Catering Rest House.
Gang leader: Around what time?
Victim: 9:30pm.
Gang leader: What weapons were they carrying?
Victim: Cutlasses.
Gang leader: No, they’re not my boys. My boys use guns.
And these are just two examples of how criminal gangs in a region of law and order, to the raw shock of the public, can afford the luxury of relaxed space to sound as if they are a republic whose undercover operations have been approved by a constitutional parliament.
Nonetheless, they have been instances, even the last one as recently as February, this year, when the police have exchanged deadly fire with such gangs and have won the battle to remind both the terror groups and the terrified public of who is really and constitutionally in charge of the region.
But in all of this, police in the region say public disinterest in anticrime hotlines is seriously fanning the flames of crime in the region. In other words, individuals who do not see the need to keep anticrime contacts in their phonebooks are to blame when criminals strike and get away with it. The public, in short, may be doing too little to fight crime. That is what the police claim.
We’ve done publicity ? Police
Too many criminals, according to the Upper East Regional Commander, DCOP Simon Yaw Afeku, have continued to strike unrestrained from the blind side of the police largely because a substantial majority of residents, who should be supporting to avert such criminal operations by alerting the police, are still not familiar with the hotlines despite the publicity given to the contacts.
“Sometimes, it’s very appalling. We continue putting out our hotlines. It’s reachable day and night throughout the seven days of the week. But the majority of people are yet to live up to this. We have been putting it out every time so that when you notice something going wrong, you call the information room and the information room would appropriately direct the call to which zonal patrols or which quick response team is supposed to react to those situations.
“It could have added to the reduction of crime where the criminal knows that the police would be able to get to the scene quickly. By and large, most people don’t take interest in the police until there is a problem,” the regional commander remarked.
Hotline is not Visible? Public
I asked a good number of people in Bolgatanga, the regional capital, why they hardly patronised the hotline.
Whilst about 22% of the respondents interviewed admitted they had been uncaring about the hotline simply because they had never felt through an experience what violent crime really was, about 46% said they did not see the need to have it because they doubted the police would respond swiftly when notified and about 32% said they did not have the hotline because it had not been visible or publicised enough.
“For me, why I don’t have that number is just that I have never experienced anything like that. So, we take things for granted, we feel reluctant to have those contacts because most of us have not fallen victims before. Those who even have the contacts call but sometimes there is no immediate response. We’ve seen cases like that where people call, there is no response. By the time they come, the armed robbers have robbed and run away, leaving you alone. So, you feel there is no confidence in the police; so, you wouldn’t want to waste your time,” Hegelar Badumah said.
Another resident, Jonathan Adanigna, complained: “If it (hotline) is displayed everywhere in the major vantage places in towns and communities for us to see, many of would have it. It’s a public number. But right now, I don’t even know where and how to get it.”
Stealing tops crime chart
Stealing, mostly of motorcycles, has always occupied the topmost slot of the crime chart from the dawn of time in the region. And lynching of motorbike snatchers, surprisingly, is increasingly appearing as a close rival to stealing, competing for the peak of the crime chart.
Lynching of crime suspects is rampant in the region mainly because the public is of the view that the justice system is not hard enough on suspects captured and handed over to the police. That position is firmly rooted in an African proverb that cautions people when they kill a snake to just cut off its head. People want to eliminate suspects once and for all not just to appease themselves for some untold harm they might have suffered at the hands criminals in the past but also to ensure that the suspects they have beaten and shamed in public do not regain freedom from police or prison custody to take revenge on anybody.
The waiting urge in the hearts of the public to unleash terror on any robbery suspect can only be matched by the fury of an impatient molten magma desperately searching for an outlet to erupt. I witnessed one where police officers, in their attempt to rescue a suspect from an angry mob, were pelted with rocks and metals. The police lost the struggle and only left the scene heading for the morgue with the rescued body of the suspect.
Whilst the regional police command is lashing out at the public for harbouring criminals and commending a few who are divulging useful tipoffs, the public, too, is accusing the police of dining with robbery gangs and commending some police officers who are serving with integrity in the region.
Victim: Around the junction to the Catering Rest House.
Gang leader: Around what time?
Victim: 9:30pm.
Gang leader: What weapons were they carrying?
Victim: Cutlasses.
Gang leader: No, they’re not my boys. My boys use guns.
And these are just two examples of how criminal gangs in a region of law and order, to the raw shock of the public, can afford the luxury of relaxed space to sound as if they are a republic whose undercover operations have been approved by a constitutional parliament.
Nonetheless, they have been instances, even the last one as recently as February, this year, when the police have exchanged deadly fire with such gangs and have won the battle to remind both the terror groups and the terrified public of who is really and constitutionally in charge of the region.
But in all of this, police in the region say public disinterest in anticrime hotlines is seriously fanning the flames of crime in the region. In other words, individuals who do not see the need to keep anticrime contacts in their phonebooks are to blame when criminals strike and get away with it. The public, in short, may be doing too little to fight crime. That is what the police claim.
We’ve done publicity ? Police
Too many criminals, according to the Upper East Regional Commander, DCOP Simon Yaw Afeku, have continued to strike unrestrained from the blind side of the police largely because a substantial majority of residents, who should be supporting to avert such criminal operations by alerting the police, are still not familiar with the hotlines despite the publicity given to the contacts.
“Sometimes, it’s very appalling. We continue putting out our hotlines. It’s reachable day and night throughout the seven days of the week. But the majority of people are yet to live up to this. We have been putting it out every time so that when you notice something going wrong, you call the information room and the information room would appropriately direct the call to which zonal patrols or which quick response team is supposed to react to those situations.
“It could have added to the reduction of crime where the criminal knows that the police would be able to get to the scene quickly. By and large, most people don’t take interest in the police until there is a problem,” the regional commander remarked.
Hotline is not Visible? Public
I asked a good number of people in Bolgatanga, the regional capital, why they hardly patronised the hotline.
Whilst about 22% of the respondents interviewed admitted they had been uncaring about the hotline simply because they had never felt through an experience what violent crime really was, about 46% said they did not see the need to have it because they doubted the police would respond swiftly when notified and about 32% said they did not have the hotline because it had not been visible or publicised enough.
“For me, why I don’t have that number is just that I have never experienced anything like that. So, we take things for granted, we feel reluctant to have those contacts because most of us have not fallen victims before. Those who even have the contacts call but sometimes there is no immediate response. We’ve seen cases like that where people call, there is no response. By the time they come, the armed robbers have robbed and run away, leaving you alone. So, you feel there is no confidence in the police; so, you wouldn’t want to waste your time,” Hegelar Badumah said.
Another resident, Jonathan Adanigna, complained: “If it (hotline) is displayed everywhere in the major vantage places in towns and communities for us to see, many of would have it. It’s a public number. But right now, I don’t even know where and how to get it.”
Stealing tops crime chart
Stealing, mostly of motorcycles, has always occupied the topmost slot of the crime chart from the dawn of time in the region. And lynching of motorbike snatchers, surprisingly, is increasingly appearing as a close rival to stealing, competing for the peak of the crime chart.
Lynching of crime suspects is rampant in the region mainly because the public is of the view that the justice system is not hard enough on suspects captured and handed over to the police. That position is firmly rooted in an African proverb that cautions people when they kill a snake to just cut off its head. People want to eliminate suspects once and for all not just to appease themselves for some untold harm they might have suffered at the hands criminals in the past but also to ensure that the suspects they have beaten and shamed in public do not regain freedom from police or prison custody to take revenge on anybody.
The waiting urge in the hearts of the public to unleash terror on any robbery suspect can only be matched by the fury of an impatient molten magma desperately searching for an outlet to erupt. I witnessed one where police officers, in their attempt to rescue a suspect from an angry mob, were pelted with rocks and metals. The police lost the struggle and only left the scene heading for the morgue with the rescued body of the suspect.
Whilst the regional police command is lashing out at the public for harbouring criminals and commending a few who are divulging useful tipoffs, the public, too, is accusing the police of dining with robbery gangs and commending some police officers who are serving with integrity in the region.
The thieves are our boys?Regional Minister
The Regional Minister himself, Albert Abongo, is disturbed about the prevalent habit of harbouring criminals despite ceaseless appeals to the public to expose them to the security agencies.
“All those who are stealing motorbikes, clubbing people whilst they are on their motorbikes and seizing them, are our own boys. We know them, we are watching them and we are keeping quiet. Everywhere is a road. So, how many policemen are we going to deploy? So, we have to get tough! We have to attack them! They are in our own homes. We have to find a way to get those people arrested so that there will be calm,” the Regional Minister recently told a coalition of civil society organisations.
Making the hotline as visible as possible and keeping it as close as possible surely will keep criminals as far away as possible particularly in this Easter celebration period and as the November election draws closer. And who knows?the criminals or suspects themselves might need the same hotline to avert any lynching or mob justice dangling over their heads. The hotline is 0382022401. - Source; Starrfmonline. com / 29.03.2016
The Regional Minister himself, Albert Abongo, is disturbed about the prevalent habit of harbouring criminals despite ceaseless appeals to the public to expose them to the security agencies.
“All those who are stealing motorbikes, clubbing people whilst they are on their motorbikes and seizing them, are our own boys. We know them, we are watching them and we are keeping quiet. Everywhere is a road. So, how many policemen are we going to deploy? So, we have to get tough! We have to attack them! They are in our own homes. We have to find a way to get those people arrested so that there will be calm,” the Regional Minister recently told a coalition of civil society organisations.
Making the hotline as visible as possible and keeping it as close as possible surely will keep criminals as far away as possible particularly in this Easter celebration period and as the November election draws closer. And who knows?the criminals or suspects themselves might need the same hotline to avert any lynching or mob justice dangling over their heads. The hotline is 0382022401. - Source; Starrfmonline. com / 29.03.2016
Prosecute SADA culprits - UE/R coalition petitions gov’t
A coalition of civil society organisations in the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) zone has petitioned government to prosecute officials embroiled in the misappropriation scandal that unsettled the authority shortly after it took off in 2010.
The group, known as the Coalition of SADA Zone CSOs, presented this petition among other demands to the Upper East Regional Minister, Albert Abongo, Thursday in Bolgatanga, the regional capital.
“We call on government to take urgent steps to retrieve all monies wrongly paid to individuals and companies who failed to deliver on their contracts and obligations to the people of the Northern Savannah Zone. We also demand that the government should take steps to prosecute people whose actions and inactions contributed to causing financial loss to the authority and the people of Ghana. This will restore confidence, public trust and also serve as a deterrent to people who are holding such positions of trust,” a statement, presented by Milton Aberinga, said.
SADA budgetary allocations missing?
The coalition is also lamenting what it calls failure on the part of government to ensure efficient flow of budgetary allocations to the authority.
“We are very much aware that Section 18 of the SADA Act 805 of 2010 enjoins government to make annual budgetary allocations to SADA as well as introduce levies on all non-petroleum imports to fund SADA. Despite this provision, it is very regrettable that since 2012 the government of Ghana has failed to make any meaningful budgetary allocation to SADA.
“The government should as a matter of urgency make a minimum allocation of 200 million cedis to SADA in its 2016 Supplementary Budget Statement to Parliament. This will revitalise the authority financially and restore public confidence and trust in the government’s commitment to making SADA work for the good of the citizens living in the zone,” the group demanded.
The Executive Secretary to the coalition, Bismarck Adongo Ayorogo, alleged that some budgetary allocations announced by government in 2013 and 2014 were never disbursed. He warned that such handling of the affairs of the authority would “send the clock of progress in the Savannah area backwards”.
Coalition on poor roads, collapsed factories, insecurity
When given the opportunity to bring up issues not highlighted in the petition statement, members of the coalition spoke passionately about the poor road networks, the collapsed factories and the state of security in the Upper East Region.
“The road from Bawku to Bolga has been on our minds. Another road is the Navrongo-Sandema.
Some roads are tarred in towns in the region, others are not. We have also realised that individuals have taken over government’s land. The tomato factory, the meat factory and rice mill are a big challenge. We only need finance from within the region to revive them ourselves, not any human resource from outside,” Seidu Mustapha, representative of the Upper East Youth Association, said.
Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health, Noble Asakeya Alagskomah, suggested building contractors engaged by government should be made to grow trees as part of contract agreement.
“We have realised that when they are building public institutions, they don’t grow trees. It should part and parcel of the contract agreement that you grow trees,” he proposed.
“Slow” President avoiding another mess? Regional Minister
In response to the coalition’s concerns about what it describes as slow pace of government’s commitment to SADA, the Regional Minister explained that President John Dramani Mahama is only taking well-measured steps just to avoid another embarrassment after the initial mess the authority suffered a few years ago.
“SADA took off on a very positive note. However, the challenges, we all understand, were daunting for any leader of a country. And so, government had to step back a little bit to see how SADA can be reorganised to be attractive not only to the people of this country, but to be attractive to the outside world. We are beginning in place measures for a better start than we had.
“But if you sat back as a leader of this country and a person who comes from the north and you got the embarrassment that we got in the initial implementation, you have to sit back and plan which way to go so that when resources are flowing we are sure that they are not going to be wasted. As a President, you don’t want to be disgraced again,” the minister explained, adding that nonpayment of budgetary allocations was not peculiar to SADA alone but common among other agencies.
Brazilian company awarded Bolga-Bawku Road
Whilst indicating that efforts were being made to revamp the collapsed factories, Mr. Abongo also underscored the need for the region to prepare to sustain operations at the factories with as much raw materials as would be needed all year round to justify the rehabilitation investments made. He added that the Bolgatanga-Bawku Road contract had been awarded to a Brazilian company currently working on the Tamale Airport in the Northern.
“I have the confidence that this project will be started soon. Twenty kilometres of roads within Bolga Township will be asphalted and some feeder roads will be reconstructed,” the Regional Minister announced.
The coalition was formed in 2015 with about seventy CSOs as well as chiefs and queen mothers from five regions including the Upper East, the Upper West, the Northern, the Volta and the Brong Ahafo. Its aim is to advocate for the development of the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone with a sharp focus on the activities of SADA. - Source: Starrfmonline. com / 27.03.2016
The group, known as the Coalition of SADA Zone CSOs, presented this petition among other demands to the Upper East Regional Minister, Albert Abongo, Thursday in Bolgatanga, the regional capital.
“We call on government to take urgent steps to retrieve all monies wrongly paid to individuals and companies who failed to deliver on their contracts and obligations to the people of the Northern Savannah Zone. We also demand that the government should take steps to prosecute people whose actions and inactions contributed to causing financial loss to the authority and the people of Ghana. This will restore confidence, public trust and also serve as a deterrent to people who are holding such positions of trust,” a statement, presented by Milton Aberinga, said.
SADA budgetary allocations missing?
The coalition is also lamenting what it calls failure on the part of government to ensure efficient flow of budgetary allocations to the authority.
“We are very much aware that Section 18 of the SADA Act 805 of 2010 enjoins government to make annual budgetary allocations to SADA as well as introduce levies on all non-petroleum imports to fund SADA. Despite this provision, it is very regrettable that since 2012 the government of Ghana has failed to make any meaningful budgetary allocation to SADA.
“The government should as a matter of urgency make a minimum allocation of 200 million cedis to SADA in its 2016 Supplementary Budget Statement to Parliament. This will revitalise the authority financially and restore public confidence and trust in the government’s commitment to making SADA work for the good of the citizens living in the zone,” the group demanded.
The Executive Secretary to the coalition, Bismarck Adongo Ayorogo, alleged that some budgetary allocations announced by government in 2013 and 2014 were never disbursed. He warned that such handling of the affairs of the authority would “send the clock of progress in the Savannah area backwards”.
Coalition on poor roads, collapsed factories, insecurity
When given the opportunity to bring up issues not highlighted in the petition statement, members of the coalition spoke passionately about the poor road networks, the collapsed factories and the state of security in the Upper East Region.
“The road from Bawku to Bolga has been on our minds. Another road is the Navrongo-Sandema.
Some roads are tarred in towns in the region, others are not. We have also realised that individuals have taken over government’s land. The tomato factory, the meat factory and rice mill are a big challenge. We only need finance from within the region to revive them ourselves, not any human resource from outside,” Seidu Mustapha, representative of the Upper East Youth Association, said.
Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health, Noble Asakeya Alagskomah, suggested building contractors engaged by government should be made to grow trees as part of contract agreement.
“We have realised that when they are building public institutions, they don’t grow trees. It should part and parcel of the contract agreement that you grow trees,” he proposed.
“Slow” President avoiding another mess? Regional Minister
In response to the coalition’s concerns about what it describes as slow pace of government’s commitment to SADA, the Regional Minister explained that President John Dramani Mahama is only taking well-measured steps just to avoid another embarrassment after the initial mess the authority suffered a few years ago.
“SADA took off on a very positive note. However, the challenges, we all understand, were daunting for any leader of a country. And so, government had to step back a little bit to see how SADA can be reorganised to be attractive not only to the people of this country, but to be attractive to the outside world. We are beginning in place measures for a better start than we had.
“But if you sat back as a leader of this country and a person who comes from the north and you got the embarrassment that we got in the initial implementation, you have to sit back and plan which way to go so that when resources are flowing we are sure that they are not going to be wasted. As a President, you don’t want to be disgraced again,” the minister explained, adding that nonpayment of budgetary allocations was not peculiar to SADA alone but common among other agencies.
Brazilian company awarded Bolga-Bawku Road
Whilst indicating that efforts were being made to revamp the collapsed factories, Mr. Abongo also underscored the need for the region to prepare to sustain operations at the factories with as much raw materials as would be needed all year round to justify the rehabilitation investments made. He added that the Bolgatanga-Bawku Road contract had been awarded to a Brazilian company currently working on the Tamale Airport in the Northern.
“I have the confidence that this project will be started soon. Twenty kilometres of roads within Bolga Township will be asphalted and some feeder roads will be reconstructed,” the Regional Minister announced.
The coalition was formed in 2015 with about seventy CSOs as well as chiefs and queen mothers from five regions including the Upper East, the Upper West, the Northern, the Volta and the Brong Ahafo. Its aim is to advocate for the development of the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone with a sharp focus on the activities of SADA. - Source: Starrfmonline. com / 27.03.2016
Abongo calls on NDC activists to close ranks
The Newly appointed Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Albert Abongo, has called on the rank and file of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to maintain relative peace and unity in the party in order to win the upcoming general election.
Aggrieved supporters
He advised aggrieved supporters, especially aspirants who lost in the party's parliamentary primaries, to endeavour to close their ranks and campaign for the elected candidates for victory.
He said as the 2016 general election was very close, there was the need for aggrieved party supporters to bury the hatchet and work to increase the electoral fortunes of the party in the region.
Mr Abongo gave the advice at the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council recently when he was introduced to party supporters as the new regional minister.
According to Mr Abongo, even though the region was a traditional stronghold of the NDC, there was the need to device strategies to beat the New Patriotic Party (NPP) convincingly.
He said with unity and hard work the party stood the chance of winning all the parliamentary seats in the region, emphasising the need for the supporters to work hard to broaden the support base of the party.
Target for election
He said the President needed to get more than 70 per cent of the total votes cast in the forthcoming presidential election in recognition of the massive development projects being undertaken in the region.
Mr Abongo gave the assurance that he would operate an open door policy and indicated that he was now a father of the region and not only the NDC faithful.
He entreated members to embrace members of other political parties so that together they would help to develop the region.
Infrastructure
The incoming regional minister said it was obvious that the NDC government had done a lot in terms of infrastructure development in the region and that the government's record in improving education, health and road network was incomparable and pledged to continue from where the outgoing regional minister stopped.
He reiterated the government’s commitment to rehabilitate and tar the Bolgatanga-Bawku road to facilitate socio-economic development and added that work would soon start on that road and other bad roads in the region would also receive the necessary attention.
Operation 85 per cent votes
The Upper East Regional Chairman of the NDC, Alhaji Bo-Naba, said the party was embarking on an agenda to secure 85 per cent votes for the President in the region and entreated members to support the President to achieve a resounding victory.
Outgoing minister
The outgoing Upper East Regional Minister, Mr James Zuuga Tiiga, pledged to work with the new regional minister to bring the needed development to the region. - Source; Daily Graphic / 22.03.2016
Aggrieved supporters
He advised aggrieved supporters, especially aspirants who lost in the party's parliamentary primaries, to endeavour to close their ranks and campaign for the elected candidates for victory.
He said as the 2016 general election was very close, there was the need for aggrieved party supporters to bury the hatchet and work to increase the electoral fortunes of the party in the region.
Mr Abongo gave the advice at the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council recently when he was introduced to party supporters as the new regional minister.
According to Mr Abongo, even though the region was a traditional stronghold of the NDC, there was the need to device strategies to beat the New Patriotic Party (NPP) convincingly.
He said with unity and hard work the party stood the chance of winning all the parliamentary seats in the region, emphasising the need for the supporters to work hard to broaden the support base of the party.
Target for election
He said the President needed to get more than 70 per cent of the total votes cast in the forthcoming presidential election in recognition of the massive development projects being undertaken in the region.
Mr Abongo gave the assurance that he would operate an open door policy and indicated that he was now a father of the region and not only the NDC faithful.
He entreated members to embrace members of other political parties so that together they would help to develop the region.
Infrastructure
The incoming regional minister said it was obvious that the NDC government had done a lot in terms of infrastructure development in the region and that the government's record in improving education, health and road network was incomparable and pledged to continue from where the outgoing regional minister stopped.
He reiterated the government’s commitment to rehabilitate and tar the Bolgatanga-Bawku road to facilitate socio-economic development and added that work would soon start on that road and other bad roads in the region would also receive the necessary attention.
Operation 85 per cent votes
The Upper East Regional Chairman of the NDC, Alhaji Bo-Naba, said the party was embarking on an agenda to secure 85 per cent votes for the President in the region and entreated members to support the President to achieve a resounding victory.
Outgoing minister
The outgoing Upper East Regional Minister, Mr James Zuuga Tiiga, pledged to work with the new regional minister to bring the needed development to the region. - Source; Daily Graphic / 22.03.2016
- Official Albert Abongo website - Click Here (New Window)
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