The Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu, has bemoaned the difficulties his office faces in securing lands in the regional capital to undertake government projects. According to him, families and landowners are demanding outrageous compensation packages, making it challenging for the government to proceed.
Mr. Yakubu raised these concerns while addressing participants of BONABOTO in Tongo during its 13th biennial delegates congress on the theme ‘promoting peaceful coexistence, protecting the environment for sustainable development: the role of BONABOTO.’
“Mr. Chairman, before I resume my seat, I need to bring to your attention one major challenge that militates against the region’s development. This concerns land acquisition for projects. Families and landowners are making it difficult for the regional coordinating council to facilitate the construction of regional institutions that benefit the municipality as the regional capital. Currently, the passport office, the office of the Labor Department, the offices of the Mineral Commission, and the SOCO offices are being constructed with difficulty. Your role in sensitizing the communities on the need to collaborate with the regional coordinating council is crucial, as families and landowners are demanding outrageous compensation packages, scaring both investors and government institutions from coming to the region.”
Mr. Yakubu further enumerated serious issues bedeviling the region and passionately appealed to BONABOTO to intervene in their advocacy role to reverse these negative occurrences that do not reflect well on the region.
“The region has not been peaceful due to land and chieftaincy disputes. The almighty Bawku conflict still rages on with devastating consequences on precious lives and property. The Bolgatanga chieftaincy conflict, though calm because the case is at the National House of Chiefs for a final verdict, I urge the two (2) rival gates to accept the verdict when it is finally pronounced.
“There are negative development indicators in the region that deserve the attention of all key stakeholders. There is a need for us to continue to sensitize and educate our people on the need to reverse these trends. These include a high teenage pregnancy rate, very low sanitation coverage, with open defecation being the order of the day, hence the region ranks 15th nationally out of the 16 regions. Our infant/maternal mortality rate is not one of the best due to a very low doctor/patient ratio. Apparently, newly posted doctors do not want to accept postings to the region. I have instructed my MMDCEs to prepare district-specific motivation packages to attract medical doctors to their districts, especially upon the completion of the Government’s Agenda 111 flagship project. The high level of alcohol intake by youth is accounting for an increasing number of road fatalities.
Equally important to note, Mr. Chairman, is the harrowing statistics of an HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 1.74 for the Bolgatanga Municipality, which is higher than the national average of 1.66 and the regional rate of 0.87. Let us caution the youth to abstain from premarital sex or use condoms to avoid contracting the disease.”
Source:A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|Samuel Adagom|Bolgatanga|
