The President of the National House of Chiefs and the paramount chief of Wulgu traditional area, Professor John Nabila has commended the NDC government under the leadership of the late president Mills for responding to an appeal for creation of the Mamprigu/Maduri district. Professor Nabila, on behalf of the paramount chief of Mamprigu traditional also expressed their appreciation for the numerous developmental projects in the area.
He expressed the hope that President Mahama would continue the developmental initiatives in the area to improve the living conditions in the area.
He was speaking at the official launch of the Millennium Village Project at Silinga in the Wulugu traditional area of the West Mamprusi district in the northern region and Bilsa district in the Upper East region.
The five year project is expected to cost £11.5 million and benefit 30,000 people in its operational areas.
It is being funded by the British Department for International Development (DFID). Wulugunaba Naa Professor Nabila lamented about the inadequate electricity supply in the area saying only 16 out 145 communities in the west and 9 out 216 communities in the East Mamprusi are connected to the national grid.
The situation he said, has led to a huge number of youth migrations from the area to the south in search for non existing jobs.
He also appealed to government to expedite work on the Walewale, Nalerigu and Gambaga road and other developmental projects and absorb the Gambaga community teacher training college into government ownership as well as convert the Wulugu Senior High School from day to a boarding school.
He expressed the hope that the intervention will tremendously transform agriculture, health, education and ICT resulting in the improvement of the people and propelling them to the middle income status.
Professor Nabila assured authorities of SADA and MVP of the chiefs and people in the area his commitment to ensuring the success of the project.
In response, President Mahama said government is committed to providing the needed development for the people in the area, adding contract has been awarded to A&N Ghanem construction company limited for the Walewale, Gambaga/Nalerigu road. On Savanna Accelerated Development Authority(SADA), President Mahama said “It is wrong for people to sit on the fence and ask what the SADA had done for the people of the region. We must bear in mind that the SADA is a 20-year programme and not an event.
“The SADA belongs to the people living in the Savannah Ecological Zone and until we rise up and own it, we will not achieve success,” the President stated.
President Mahama added that all credit for the successful launch of the project must go to his former boss the late President John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills under whose tenure the project was formulated.
He said under the Better Ghana Agenda of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, President Mills planned initiatives that would bridge the development gap between the north and the south.
At the launch were Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute and Special Adviser to the Un Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and Mr. Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development.
Professor Sachs who was excited about the programme, said it marked the beginning of the end of poverty in the West Mamprusi and Builsa districts because there was no reason for poverty to continue.
Mr. Mitchell said by the end of the project cycle, the UK would want to see at least 11,000 people lifted out of poverty with another 15,500 people having access to sanitation.
He added that they look forward to seeing 10,000 people having access to clean water and a massive drop in the number of deaths among children under five.
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