A forum organized to sensitize the public on government’s ‘one million dollar for each constituency’ was held in Bolgatanga. The forum which was organized by A1 radio, a private radio station in the Upper East region brought together heads of departments, political leaders and communicators, religious leaders, civil society organization, the academia and the public.
The program also sought to realize the utilization of the money at both local and national level so as to avert unforeseen mismanagement of the fund.
Dr. Michael Adongo Ayamga, a development economist addressing the gathering was of the view that the policy cannot be achieved because the New Patriotic Party during the electioneering period only made a promise to Ghanaians but failed to provide sources of funding to achieve the course.
Making reference to the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), Mr. Ayamga feared the 1 million dollar per constituency risked being mismanaged if all financial leakages at the local government set up are not blocked.
The policy according to government, targets at improving the lives of Ghanaians which will in a long term eradicate poverty. However, Mr. Ayamga disagrees saying the policy will rather widen the poverty level in the already poor regions.
“You [government] cannot think that all the constituencies across this country have equal problems so you can give everybody 1 million dollars. The Ashanti region has 34 constituencies we [Upper East region] has 15. You say you want to use these funds to fight poverty, you give 34 million dollars to Ashanti region, how many of them are poor compared to the Upper East region.”
A local government expert, Issaka Amon Kotie said although the policy is laudable it cannot be implemented because the country lacks the capital to implement the policy. Mr. Kotie who chastised the New Patriotic Party for making a promise without justifying its source of funding urged government to abandon the policy at this initial stage or else it will forge to disappoint Ghanaians later. According to him the policy even if implemental, its supervision will distort existing local government structures. “Why are we so excited that there is 1 million dollar coming and all our problems will be resolved. Why? And all of a sudden we have some creature called constituency which I don’t even know where it is sitting. We have existing structures, why do we introduced new ones called constituencies and who are going to be in-charge of the constituencies?” he questioned.
Basing his argument on a quantum of monies government spends on judgment debts annually, an agriculturalist, Professor David Millar who formed the panel was optimistic the one million dollar per constituency can be achieved.
Prof. Millar therefore charged Ghanaians to hold government to ransom for it to deliver the promise. He expressed concerns that the three regions of the northern might not benefit from the policy due to personal interest on the part of its Members of Parliament.
He entreated people from the northern part of the country to demand their share of the national cake. “We are not bridging any gap between the North and the South, we are demanding development as our own right. Whether it bridges a gap or not we are demanding as a right. There is no quarrel between us and the South, we are demanding development for the north on its own right whether there is gap or no gap.”
The one million dollar per constituency which was captured in the budget statement will be catered by an Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Project (IPEP) to improve the lives of rural dwellers. In that regard, a development practitioner, Bismark Ayorogo Adongo commended government for steps taken to implement the policy.
The A1 radio self funded public engagement forum sought to hold government accountable to the citizenry. General Manager of the station, Justine Kolog stated that the station hopes to organize similar forums in the future.
“We have a lot to be rolling out. Government has a lot of policies and like I told you earlier on it is our responsibility to keep the government on its toes so we will be organizing more of these fora so that people will get informed”
By: Joshua Asaah|A1radioonline.com|Ghana
