Former CEO for the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and current Executive Director of the International Development Economists Association (IDEA) Charles Abugre has clarified long-standing thoughts that the Authority reportedly indicated that guinea fowls reared under one of its projects by the Asongtaba Cottage Industry in Sumbrugu in the Upper East Region flew to neighbouring Burkina Faso.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East, Mr. Abugre said the statement was made by a journalist and not SADA adding that the fueling of the misinformation was borne out of mischief.
“That was mischief. This was a journalist speaking at a radio station in Tamale making a joke. People asked where are these guinea fowls that SADA was doing? The person then made a joke saying, they must have flown to Burkina Faso.”
“There was not even a comment that any official of SADA at that time made. But in a heightened partisan political environment, anything is cannon fodder,” he explained.
Mr. Abugre explained that while SADA had obvious challenges, the prospects for the organisation were high. He said the continuous political interference by the then ruling party worsened the plight of the Authority.
Mr. Abugre admitted that SADA made mistakes in pursuing its mandate as a vehicle for developing Northern Ghana.
He said while SADA chalked very positive feats, the Authority made mistakes that caught the attention of many. He said at the time he took over as CEO of the Authority, it was basically on its knees.
Mr. Abugre said his vision for the Authority was to see the rapid development of the Savannah Ecological zone in the areas of agriculture, transportation and urban city planning.
This strategy he referred to those 3 master plans; the Buipe Multi-Modal Transport and City Master Plan, the Tamale City Master Plan and the Agricultural Master plan birthed the ‘Regional Concept Plan’ which was a Savannah Zone-wide plan.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
