Members of late President Hilla Limann’s family of Gwollu have expressed gratitude to President John Atta Mills and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for establishing the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).
In a statement signed by Kuoro Kuri Buktie Limann, head of the Limann Family of Gwowuse Clan of Gwollu on Sunday to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the death of former President Limann, the family said chiefs and development partners of rural development in the regions of the north, farmers’ groups and the advocates for poverty alleviation were very grateful for the NDC party’s strategic initiative.
“We all believe that the good and sound but long overdue establishment of this development project is very objective, commendable and relevant to bridge the very wide economic and resource development gap between the north and the south”, the statement said.
The statement, however, raised some reservations about the SADA’s Consultancy and Technical Team leadership and urged the government to take a second look into the records of those spearheading the implementation of the programme.
“We wish to state that SADA’s Consultancy and Technical Team leadership have been taken up probably by the same persons who were involved in the implementation of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA),” it said.
“We think they are the same consultants appointed by the immediate past government to implement the MCA and they sadly excluded the people of Upper West and Upper East regions from benefiting from it but whose poverty levels and misfortunes we understand were used to attract the MCA grant from the United States.”
The statement appealed to the government to replace them with suitable officers available to competently execute SADA to benefit all the people.
On the National Health Insurance Scheme, the statement requested that district hospitals be built at Gwollu in the Sissala West District, Funsi in the Wa East District and Wechau in the Wa West District.
It suggested the establishment of Nurses Training School or other relevant health institutions in Gwollu to serve the needs of the people and also urged SADA to provide health facilities in other areas of the north to bridge the health gap between the north and the south.
In line with government’s prudent agricultural policy, the statement appealed to SADA to assist the shea nut and groundnut industries to establish companies in the north.
The statement appealed to the government to consider the tarring of the Tumu/Gwollu/Hamile road to link the area to neighbouring Burkina Faso.