Parliament house
THE NORTHERN Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA) has lashed at Members of Parliament from the three Northern regions, describing them as people who do not have their constituents and the region at heart.
According to NORPRA, the attitude of the MPs towards decision making is a clear indication that their loyalties and commitments are to their various political parties and not their constituent.
The group has therefore asked voters in the various northern constituencies not to renew the mandate of their MPs in the 2012 elections.
Expressing their frustration in a press statement signed by Bismark Adongo Ayorogo, President of NORPRA, members of the group based in the Upper East region said MPs from both the majority and minority sides had over the years not only failed to champion the cause of Northern Ghana and articulate the concerns of their constituents, but have also woefully failed in their core mandate to check government decisions and conventions as well as misappropriation of public funds meant for development of the area.
The group said in 2008, parliament approved a $500million from Brazil for the construction of the hydro-electric power project at Pwualugu in the Upper East region and Juale in the Northern region, but to their surprise, the Pwualugu project was deleted from the 2010 budget statement.
“In 2011, according to page 6 of a publication of government’s top 50 achievements, the government under the full watch and supervision of His Excellency, Professor John Evans Atta Mills and his Vice John Daramani Mahama, diverted and converted $250million being half of the loan from the Brazilian government for the construction of different project at the Eastern Corridor,” the statement alleged.
It added that, “The signal from this development points to the fact that the two hydro-electric power projects to be executed in Northern Ghana are not important to this government and the Members of Parliament from Northern Ghana, and therefore have been abandoned. By this action, government and Parliament owe the people of Ghana an explanation, on when the Eastern Corridor’s project was approved in Parliament.”
NORPRA said the NDC government should have started working towards implementation of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority as promised during the campaign period when it was elected in 2008.
According to the group, the initial SADA seed capital of GH¢200 million and an annual contribution of GH¢100 million for 20 years has not materialized.
“As a matter of fact, not even a quarter of this social contract the NDC had with the people of Northern Ghana, has been executed and yet not even a single MP from the North has been bold enough to raise an objective case for government to fulfill its promise. Recently, Parliament approved a loan facility of $3 billion from the Chinese government to finance a number of developmental projects in the country. No single project was mentioned for the Northern and yet no Northern MPs on the floor of Parliament thought it wise to draw government’s attention to that,” the statement went on.
The group it is sad to note that most Northern MPs are very excited by the approval of the loan without pausing to think whether or not their constituents will benefit from the loan facility which will be paid back by all Ghanaians in the future. It said the failure of the Northern MPs to fight for their constituents in the three northern regions is a clear manifestation that they are in Parliament for a different agenda from seeking the welfare of their constituents.
From Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga