CREATE SPECIAL CORRIDORS FOR HERDSMEN

(Daily Graphic, Jan 13, 2012, back page)

THE Northern Cereal Growers, Processors and Marketers Association has appealed to the government to create special corridors and entry points for use by Fulani herdsmen and their cattle.

The group, which comprises farmers and dealers of rice, maize, millet and other cereal crops, noted that such a move would help bring a stop to the current situation where the herdsmen operate haphazardly and dangerously, sometimes causing damage to farms, water bodies and other vegetated areas.

According to a press statement, signed by the Chairman of the association, Mr Abdul-Rahaman Alhassan, the group undertook a study to ascertain how the activities of Fulani herdsmen were impacting on the northern cereal industry.

The study, which was sponsored by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund, was aimed at forming the basis for an advocacy action to address the menace of Fulani herdsmen.

The research, as contained in the statement, found that the cereal industry served as a source of livelihood for over 60 per cent of farmers in the Northern Region and was dominated by males.

It revealed that over 50 per cent of the cereal farmers did not have any form of relationship with the herdsmen and most of them had experienced some form of destruction on their farms by animals shepherded by the herdsmen.

“However, 42 per cent of the livestock farmers and traders admitted that they have a cordial relationship with the Fulani herdsmen because they supply them with healthy and relatively cheaper animals,” the statement read.

The study also found that apart from failing to control their cattle from causing destruction to maize, rice, millet and guinea corn farms, the Fulani herdsmen also engage in cattle rustling, bush burning and illicit cutting of trees.

It said the herdsmen were also a threat to the environment because their animals engage in over-grazing and the compacting of lands leading to erosion.

According to the study, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Protocol on Free Movement of Goods and People hindered the strict enforcement of the immigration law because authorities tread cautiously when dealing with Fulani herdsmen.

It concluded that the Regional Security Council lacked the necessary personnel and logistics to regulate the influx of Fulani herdsmen who use unapproved routes to enter the country.

In addition to creating corridors, the group also suggested the establishment of camps to check the activities of Fulani herdsmen and the registration of Fulani herdsmen.

WEST MAMPRUSI ASSEMBLY FORMS FIRE VOLUNTEER SQUAD

(Daily Graphic, Jan 12, 2012, page 20)

THE West Mamprusi District Assembly has constituted an eighty-member fire volunteer squad to check bush fires that are threatening to ravage farms and vegetations in Mishio and Zua, two farming communities in the district.

Each year, during the dry season, fires are set to vegetations, mostly by hunters who are in pursuit of rodents. In the process, these fires cause damage to farms and large plantations, thereby resulting in a huge loss to the farmers.

The formation of fire control volunteer squads is therefore intended to address the menace of bush fires as these volunteers have been tasked to police the area to ensure non-burning and also put a stop to fires that have already been started.

With technical support from the Ghana National Fire Service, the volunteers underwent a six-day training programme in wildfire control, including practical lessons, such as the creation of fire belts and military drilling exercise in response to fire outbreaks.

They were later presented with fire fighting equipment namely Wellington boots, protective clothing, cutlasses and hand gloves.

The institution of the fire volunteer squad forms part of the implementation of a project intended to mitigate the effects of climate change in parts of the West Mamprusi district.

The project, christened ‘Fighting climate change through reforestation’, is being funded by the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF), a German-based foundation and implemented in partnership with the assembly.

At the end of the training programme, the Co-ordinator of the project, Mr Issifu Sulemana said the fire volunteer squad would seek to protect the area from any fires, adding that it would be senseless to plant trees and allow fires to destroy them.

He noted that preventing bush fires is everyone’s business and therefore urged the entire community to join hands with the eighty volunteers to control bushfires in their communities.

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for West Mamprusi, Mr Adam Yussif cautioned the inhabitants of the two communities not to start any fires to the bushes because we are in the peak of the dry season and therefore any fire could get out of hand and cause damage to farms.

He urged the fire volunteers to use the knowledge, skills and the equipment acquired to manage and adequately control wild fires in their various communities.

The DCE also entreated the two communities not to farm close to the banks of the Volta River, but to endeavour to pay attention to the trees planted along their part of the Volta River banks in order to give it maximum protection since their livelihoods were directly connected to the river.

The chief of Zua, Zua-Naa thanked the assembly, the HSF and their partners for their immense support to the two communities and reiterated their commitment in ensuring that bush fires are actually controlled in their various communities.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE UNIT DOES NOT DESTROY RELATIONSHIPS - DSP TETTEH

(Daily Graphic, Jan 12, 2012, page 18)

DSP Tetteh

MANY victims of domestic violence in Tamale and other parts of the Northern Region feel reluctant to seek redress at the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) due to the fear of causing a break up of their relationships.

This fear is fuelled by the perception among many people that when perpetrators of domestic abuse are penalized for their acts, it tends to sour the existing bond between the offenders and their victims, as well as other close family and friends.

It is not surprising, therefore, to see a woman or man remaining in an abusive relationship just to protect his or her marriage or family ties.

However, the Northern Regional Co-ordinator of DOVVSU, DSP Stephen Anane Boye Tetteh, dispels the notion that DOVVSU destroys relationships.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic in his office in Tamale, DSP Tetteh noted that what many people did not know was that DOVVSU’s mandate had both criminal and social support dimensions.

He pointed out that whiles the criminal aspect involves the prosecution of perpetrators of domestic abuse, the social support dimension focuses on helping create a safe and violent-free environment for domestic relationships to thrive.

DSP Tetteh explained that one way DOVVSU does this is by counselling both abusers and those abused to co-exist cordially in an atmosphere devoid of abuse.

He said, for instance, that when a parent is reported to the unit for neglecting his or her responsibilities to the child, DOVVSU does not proceed straight away to arrest the parent, arraign him or her and put the person behind bars.

“What we do is that we get this irresponsible parent to commit to fulfil his or her parental responsibilities and to avoid any future breaches of the law,” he noted.

DSP Tetteh said the unit had, on many occasions, counselled couples whose relationships had become sour due to one or several incidents of abuse and these couples resolved, henceforth, to stay together, although they had initially sworn to stay apart.

“DOVVSU works to promote reconciliation among people who are in domestic relationships. We let them see the effects of violence in the domestic set up and the need to shun violence of all forms,” he stated further.

DSP Tetteh noted that DOVVSU was not established solely for the police, since other institutions were needed to help pursue the social support dimension.

He said apart from the police, the unit had personnel from the social welfare department and other professionals, including psychologists.

Unfortunately, the apathy towards DOVVSU is one the factors that has led to the unit recording few cases in the Northern Region, even though many people are abused in their homes, workplaces and other domestic set ups regularly.

In 2010, the region recorded only a single reported case of exposing a child to harm and another single case of actually causing harm.

Twenty-two (22) of its cases constituted defilement, whiles 21 were classified as rape.

In a region where forced marriage is very rife in many rural communities, only five cases of compulsion of marriage were reported at DOVVSU. This is surely not the reality on the ground.

As expected, non-maintenance cases were among the highest as 40 of these cases were reported.

DSP Tetteh said the unit would intensify its sensitisation campaigns to get more victims to come out of their shelves and seek assistance, stressing that “DOVVSU does not destroy relationships.”

I DID NOT CHOOSE SANG AS DISTRICT CAPITAL - MION MP

(Daily Graphic, 11 Jan, 2012, page 17)

THE Member of Parliament (MP) for the Mion constituency in the Northern Region, Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan has denied allegations that he selected Sang as the district capital for the newly-created Mion district.

The MP was recently assaulted by some residents of Sambu during his recent visit to the area, because the people are opposed to the selection of Sang as district capital, instead of Sambu.

He told the Daily Graphic that he had no hands in the selection of the district capital and that a committee had been set up by the government to appraise the various towns in each new district and select the one which is of economic and business importance as the district capital.

Dr Alhassan, who is seeking a third term in Parliament, rejected rumours that the people were against his re-election bid, stressing that they were misinformed that he selected Sang as the district capital for Mion.

The MP urged contestants of the parliamentary primaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Mion constituency to avoid personal attacks and engage in a clean campaign.

He said he was not pleased about some comments he had heard about himself allegedly being made by some of the contestants, but gave the assurance that he would not be drawn into such mudslinging.

“I do not see why we should be against each other since we are all in the same party. We should allow the delegates to select their preferred candidate for the seat,” he stated, adding that he was convinced he would emerge victorious.

Dr Alhassan denied allegations that he was buying expensive cars to the neglect of the needs of his constituents, saying that the car he was using was given to him as an MP.

He also denied peddling lies about one of his opponents, Mr Ibrahim Tanko, stressing that such rumours were calculated to destroy his image.

The Mion MP said criticisms that he had not done anything for the Mion constituency are misplaced because he had than a lot including helping the area to be carved into a district out of the Yendi municipality.

He said he wrote a proposal in 2008 to the government making a case for Mion to be made a district, adding that he followed up on it when the NDC came into power and the result is now obvious.

Dr Alhassan said in his bid to ease the water problems of some communities in his constituency, he constructed three boreholes in three villages.

He mentioned that he had also made efforts to connect many communities in the constituency to the national grid, adding that areas such as Sambu, Adiboo and Zakpalis had benefited from a street lighting project through his effort.

Dr Alhassan commended the government for allocating GH¢1 million to the newly-created Mion district, describing the development as unprecedented in the history of Mion.

He said the money would be used judiciously to set up the district administration offices and commence other development projects.

SAVE FOREST RESERVES IN NORTHERN REGION

(Daily Graphic, Jan 9, 2012, page 20)

THE importance of forests to human life cannot be overemphasized. According to agric scientists, forests, apart from conserving nature, are a source of life.

They purify the air that we breathe, serve as habitat for the animals that we feed on, and preserve climatic temperatures to protect our bodies. In Africa, in particular, forests are the main source of herbs and many of the food we eat.

Experts have also noted that forests play a crucial role in helping mitigate the impact of climate change on humans.

Some illegally-sawn timber that were recently seized in Saboba

According to the Director of the United Nations (UN) Forum on Forests Secretariat, Mr Pekka Patosaary, forests can act as a ‘sink’ to absorb greenhouse emissions and store large quantities of carbon for extended periods of time.

No wonder the developed world is now committing itself to invest in afforestation projects in Africa under the United Nations’ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) initiative.

One is therefore at a lost why forests in the Northern Region of Ghana are being depleted at such an alarming rate, in spite of how essential they are to the livelihoods of the people in the region.

Checks at the Forestry Commission indicate that there are 24 forest reserves in the Northern Region.

The region even boasts of having the largest forest reserve in Ghana, the Yakombo Forest Reserve, near Buipe, which occupies an estimated land area of 1,160km².

Each year, more trees are planted in various parts of the region so as to create new or replenish existing woodlots and forest plantations.

Currently, the Forestry Services Department (FSD) of the Forestry Commission is establishing large acres of forest plantations in various parts of the region through the National Forest Plantation Development Programme.

During a recent visit to the Northern Region by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Lands and Forestry, the Northern Regional Forestry Manager, Mr Ebenezer Djaney Djagbletey, revealed that the region had exceeded its targets for the plantation programme.

“A total area of 3,309 hectares had been planted by the end of December, 2010, which is far higher than the 2000 hectares target that had been set,” he told the committee.

He said in Yendi alone, a total area of 1,126 hectares was planted in off-reserve areas and 200 hectares in existing forest reserves.

In Tamale, a total area of 462 hectares was planted in off-reserve areas, whiles 70 hectares of areas located within forest reserves had been planted.

In spite of all these glamorous statistics about the establishment of large acres of forest plantations, the question to ask is “how many of these trees would survive?”

How many would become prey to the painful blade of chain-saw operators and how many would crumble when the dry season fires start?

Statistics from the EPA paint a gloomy picture about the depletion of forest resources in the Northern Region.

According to the EPA, the region loses 38, 000 hectares of its tree cover every year due to activities such as indiscriminate bush burning, deforestation, use of chemicals in fishing, over grazing by livestock and illegal commercial logging.

Just recently, the FSD intercepted large quantities of illegally sawn rosewood, which had been felled from forest plantations in the Saboba district.

Due to the depletion of forests and the vegetation, some parts of the region are being reduced to desert-like conditions and this has caused a reduction in food and water resources and also increased the intensity and duration of droughts and disasters in the north.

It is sad to note that many community folk do not seem to know about the harm they cause to the environment and future generations when they run down forest resources.

The extent to which they cut down trees for firewood and to make space for farming and settlements exposes the region to desertification.

Unfortunately, forest conservation issues do not receive adequate attention from local government authorities and politicians in the region.

Under the noses of District Chief Executives, Members of Parliament, Co-ordinating Directors and traditional rulers, forests are destroyed and no one seems to border.

It is high time that the nation’s leaders and the entire populace were reoriented on the importance of forests and the need to conserve them.

Politicians, chiefs and opinion leaders in the region must stand up now to protect the region’s forests and not wait for calamity to befall us.

UNDERSTANDING SADA IS CRUCIAL TO ITS SUCCESS

(Daily Graphic, Jan 9, 2012, page 10)

IT is understandable why the establishment of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) was greeted with much delight among some sections of the Ghanaian population, particularly those from the northern Savannah areas.

The North has remained backwards for a long time in terms of development and this has been blamed largely on an old colonial policy which resulted in a situation where development efforts were centred in the south.

After independence, however, it was realised that the lack of development of the north was a bane to the progress of the country in general.

For instance, the low standard of education in the north meant a high level of illiteracy in that area.

The lack of development in the north also resulted in the mass migration of a large army of unemployed youth to the southern sector to seek job opportunities, and consequently leading to over population in cities like Kumasi and Accra, thereby eroding the development gains made in the south.

A number of interventions were therefore introduced to reduce the development gap between the south and the north. Although, many of these achieved some success, they were not enough to bring about the desired transformation of the north.

This re-echoed the need for a much more pragmatic, sustainable and well-strategized development blueprint for the north.

Many therefore heaved a sigh of relief when the government introduced the SADA Bill to parliament, which was consequently passed into law after there was general consensus on the relevance of this body.

The SADA Law (Act 805, 2010) mandates the authority to work towards bridging the development gap between the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone and the rest of the country.

This zone, which is considered the food basket of the country, comprises the Northern, Upper East, Upper West and parts of the Brong Ahafo and Volta regions.

Subsequently, the government constituted and inaugurated a board to oversee the affairs of SADA. A former Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Gilbert Seidu Iddi, was later appointed to run the day to day operations of SADA as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

So finally, here is the much awaited development machine for the north.

However, it has become obvious that many people are still dissatisfied. This time, the dissatisfaction is not about government’s inaction in developing the north, but the failure of the newly-established SADA to hit the ground running.

Those who are discontented claim they are yet to see any physical signs of the impact of this authority, in spite of the launch of the Millennium Villages Project (MVP).

Of course, how can you begrudge them? It was the daily language of politicians that SADA would offer a quick solution to the problems of the north, such as unemployment, poor road networks, ailing agriculture, environmental degradation, high illiteracy, name them.

As a result, many northern folk nurtured high expectations about the performance of the then yet-to-be-created SADA. Therefore, failure to see these promises materialise would ultimately generate some disillusionment.

In fact, some have also raised concerns over the failure of government to adequately resource SADA as promised earlier.

My role as a journalist however gives me a unique opportunity to approach this issue from a different perspective.

From my layman’s diagnoses, there is deep misunderstanding among the northern Ghanaian population – be they literates or illiterates – about the mandate of SADA.

This deep-seated misunderstanding has the tendency to affect the credibility of SADA and the government as well. It can erode public confidence in the ability of SADA to transform the north, and lead to a situation where people’s preconditioned minds tend to affect their co-operation with the authority.

SADA, as I understand, was not established to carry out development works all by itself. SADA would neither go to the farms to till the lands, plant and harvest the food, nor would it pick up graders to work on the deplorable roads.

If SADA needs to do some research or feasibility studies into a particular area of intervention, it would not be the one to do it. It would have to work with other institutions that have the capacity to do so, such as the University for Development Studies (UDS) and the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI).

Again, SADA is not a project that would elapse within a stipulated time and it is not a replacement to all other development programmes in the north.

It would also not be a replacement to the various decentralised bodies or to the National Development Planning Commission, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), the Ministry of Roads and Highways, etc.

Thus, the establishment of SADA does not mean that all resources and funds allocated for the development of the Savannah areas would be channelled to it.

In fact, my understanding is that SADA is an engine that has been built by seasoned economic and development ‘engineers’ with the sole purpose of fast-tracking the development process in the north, just like how the engine of an automobile keeps it moving.

It is a permanent body that would link up with all institutions that are working towards the development of the north and offer strategic leadership and direction to the development process in the north.

By so doing, SADA would ensure that all these institutions focus on the very essential areas and that there is coordination, but not duplication.

SADA would be the magnet that would attract development funds for the north. It would therefore ensure that these funds reach the institutions that are responsible for carrying out the various interventions.

It would as well supervise, monitor and ensure the success of these projects and also ensure the sharing of best practices.

So, in effect, the workings of SADA would ultimately do away with the current situation where the development process in the north is so haphazard and lacks direction.

For me, therefore, it thus not matter how much money government gives to the SADA secretariat, because SADA thus not need to carry out the interventions all by itself, except to ensure that funds are made available for the various initiatives.

Giving a lot of money to SADA at this crucial moment would be like putting the cart before the horse. The plans and linkages must come first, before funding is made available.

The point must, however, be made that the SADA secretariat requires some amount of funding for administrative purposes; but more importantly, it requires the support of the country’s political leadership and that of civil society and the private sector.

I dare say that the failure of SADA would start the day it begins attempting to ‘do it all’. Let us guide against this, otherwise we would get to a point one day when this body is unable to do everything and yet all others might have abandoned their roles and watching from the fence.