(Daily Graphic, Nov 11, 2011, Page 48)
THE
board chairman of the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA), a
pro-development organisation working in the north, Prof Abubakar Al-Hassan has
cautioned the government not to let the Savannah Accelerated Development
Authority (SADA) become a failure.
According to him, the people of the
north were having high expectations about the proposed interventions of SADA
and would therefore be disappointed in the government if this initiative turns
out to be a delusion.
Prof Al-Hassan gave this caution at a
durbar to mark the annual ‘Denmark Seminar’, which is a developmental platform
that brings various development partners, including policy makers, civil
society organisations and community leaders, to brainstorm on pertinent
development matters.
Whiles the ‘Denmark Seminar’ is held in
Ghana, a similar forum is also held in Denmark, dubbed the ‘Ghana Seminar’,
where a number of issues relating to Ghana’s development are equally discussed
by Ghana’s development partners in that country.
The GDCA and various organisations in
Denmark have enjoyed years of fruitful relationship and this resulted in a
number of initiatives including these annual development forums.
Discussions at this year’s ‘Denmark
Seminar’ focused on the theme: “Making Savannah Accelerated Development
Authority work for accelerating the development of Northern Savannah of Ghana.”
Prof Al-Hassan said the focus on SADA
was very appropriate because the topical issue at the moment was whether SADA
could deliver on its mandate by transforming the north.
He said a number of government and
private sector interventions had been introduced in the past to turn the
fortunes of the north around, but limited success had been achieved.
Prof Al-Hassan made mention of the Upper
Region Agricultural Development Programme (URADEP) and the Northern Region
Rural Integrated Development Programme (NORRIP).
“There is no doubt that these programmes
contributed significantly to the development of the north. Unfortunately, these
interventions were not enough to turn things around. The period of intervention
needed to have been sustained for a longer time and more resources committed to
them,” he noted.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the
seminar, the participants lauded government for its commitment to narrow the
development gap between the north and south.
They however cautioned that the
allocation of resources from government and development partners for the north
should not be replaced with SADA.
“SADA should be resourced on top of
normal government sources. Otherwise, the widening development gap between the
north and the south of Ghana will continue to grow,” they stated.
The participants also recommended that
efforts be made to ensure that SADA’s interventions adequately address gender
issues pertaining to the north.
They stressed the need for local people
in SADA’s beneficiary areas to be given the opportunity to participate in
decision making regarding SADA’s interventions instead of forcing programmes on
them.
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