The Coordinator of the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion Project (SOCO), Mrs. Elizabeth Ohenewah Agyei, has warned that despite unprecedented investments channelled into northern Ghana through the project, weak supervision, procedural bottlenecks, and poor community engagement risk undermining the initiative’s impact.
Speaking during an orientation in Bolgatanga for Municipal and District Chief Executives (MDCEs) and Coordinating Directors from the Upper East and North East Regions, Ms. Agyei stressed that while SOCO has delivered far more funds than the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) in vulnerable communities, local assemblies and contractors must take accountability seriously.
“The investments that SOCO has made in the districts are unprecedented. If you look at the comparison of even the DACF, there’s such a huge gap in the annual allocations. These are ready monies for specific vulnerable communities,” she revealed.
But she cautioned that without proper checks, communities could continue to feel “short-changed.” She cited a case in the Sumbrungu community in the Bolgatanga municipality where residents demanded boreholes but later accused the assembly of providing inadequate facilities. “It was not that they were short-changed; it was an issue of poor engagement. Communities were not fully informed of the project’s capacity and scope,” she explained.
Ms. Agyei noted that misunderstandings like these erode trust and fuel grievances. To address this, $15 million of the SOCO project’s budget has been earmarked for community capacity building and engagement, alongside grievance redress systems including toll-free hotlines and local project offices.
She also pointed to weaknesses in project supervision and monitoring. “Some contractors feel they are not being watched. That is why we are introducing third-party monitoring and deploying institutions like AESL to ensure quality control,” she said.
Delays in project execution were also attributed to bureaucracy. “In replenishing funds, even if the system is fast, it takes about six weeks because it must go from the district, to the zone, to the national, and then to the Bank of Ghana. These are accountability measures, but they slow progress,” she admitted.
With Ghana’s northern border regions facing poverty, insecurity, and climate vulnerabilities, Ms. Agyei underscored that the stakes are high. “SOCO is a government project designed to build resilience against conflict spillovers from the Sahel. If communities feel excluded or cheated, the very cohesion we are trying to build will be undermined,” she warned.
She gave assurances that lessons learned in the first two implementation cycles have informed reforms for the third cycle, which will not be “business as usual.” Community facilitators will now receive stronger training, and assemblies will be held under tighter supervision standards.
“We cannot afford to fail. Vulnerable communities must feel the impact of these investments—not just in infrastructure, but in trust, cohesion, and resilience,” she said.
With the Nabdam district being the poorest in Ghana, with a multidimensional poverty rate of 68%, the DCE, Francis Tobig Yenwona, is optimistic that the SOCO projects will help to reduce poverty in the area. For his part, Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive, Roland Atanga Ayoo, lauded the SOCO project, saying it will help develop the municipality.
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