MAKE BILL ON SADA PUBLIC (PAGE 58, MAY 10, 2010)

PARTICIPANTS at a forum on the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) have called on the government to make public the bill on the SADA which was recently approved by cabinet before it is subsequently forwarded to Parliament for consideration.
This, they believe, would enable the respective beneficiary regions and the people to make inputs into the bill.
They were also of the view that it was the only way the people would know that they owned the initiative.
Making a submission at an open forum during a stakeholders seminar at Wa, a member of the Council of State, Naa Seidu Braimah, expressed regret that much had not been done with respect to the involvement of traditional rulers from the beneficiary communities of the SADA.
Naa Braimah, therefore, stressed the need for the bill to be sent down to the ordinary Ghanaian for them to come to appreciate the programme.
Stressing on how the SADA could succeed, Naa Braimah appealed to the chiefs and people of the three northern regions and the Volta and Brong Ahafo regions, who are the beneficiaries of the SADA to be ready to make land available under the programme, eschew all forms of disputes and give peace a chance.
He said it was only when there was peace that the SADA would succeed in the beneficiary areas.
“We must learn to be one, stop the ethnic differences and see each other as the brother’s keeper,” he emphasised, saying “we have to free ourselves from the shackles of hatred, corruption and nepotism as northerners to be able to make progress”.
Other speakers called for the training of farmers in modernised agriculture if agriculture was to be modernised under the SADA. Other contributors also wanted to know the relation between the existing Northern Rural Growth Project (NRGP) and the SADA.
There were those who also expressed concern about the politicisation of the SADA by successive governments so that it did not become a nine-day wonder.
The forum, which was organised by SEND Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, was on the theme: “Realising the goal of the SADA, the responsibility of government and citizens”.
Earlier, the Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Mahmud Khalid, had expressed regret that stakeholders had not been able to propagate information on the SADA to permeate all sectors of the society.
“It is a problem that when people attend workshops or seminars they always keep the information to themselves. Municipal, Metropolitan and District Chief Executives ( MMDCEs) among other stakeholders, have had the opportunity to provide insight into what the SADA entailed and by now that information should have been on the finger tips of the ordinary people,” Mr Khalid lamented.
He said “we have to be careful that we do not have a situation where moneys budgeted for the implementation of programmes are spent on workshops and then we are found wanting when it comes to implementation”.
Mr Khalid said the government placed a lot of premium on the SADA, and urged people to erase the misconception about the programme and reposition themselves for the reality.
He highlighted some of the results to be derived from the SADA, such as the development of infrastructure, to attract investors and that the government would consciously source for funding to give the SADA a sound financial foundation.
The regional minister further urged the media and civil society organisations to join efforts in sensitising the populace to the SADA and its work for the people to appreciate the roles they ought to play during its implementation as well as the opportunities which would come with the SADA.
For his part, the Upper West Regional Programme Officer of SEND Ghana, Mr Adamu Munkaila, traced the history of development programmes initiated by successive governments to bridge the gap between the north and the south, and said with the required commitment the SADA must succeed.
Mr Munkaila also called for a continued and free flow of information on the programme to the people at the grassroots for them to be abreast of developments as far as the implementation of the SADA was concerned.