President Akufo-Addo greeting Bawku Naba, Asigir Abugrago Azoka II
President Akufo-Addo has demanded of border residents to be vigilant and to report suspicious elements to the security agencies.
He was speaking during his visit to the palace of the Bawku Naba, Zugraan Bawku Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, in the Upper East Region yesterday.
The citizenry, especially those living in border communities, he went on, must be vigilant and provide timely information to the security agencies about the movement and activities of strangers and even natives who exhibit crime-related characteristics.
His call comes on the heels of the recent alert by the Police Administration about a planned attack by bandits from Burkina Faso which shares a border with the Upper East Region of which Bawku is a part.
According to him, government has taken the recent security alert over possible attacks by some foreign bandits seriously and will ensure that the border and border communities are well protected.
A permanent military barracks, he announced, will be established in the Bawku Traditional Area.
President Akufo-Addo also gave the assurance that government will do everything possible to equip security agencies at the border communities in the country, to make them strong and ready enough to counter possible external attacks.
He was speaking at the palace of Zugraan Bawku Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II in the Bawku Municipality as part of his two-day visit to the Upper East Region.
This is the first time the President has visited the region after his re-election in the 2020 General Election.
He assured the Bawku Naba that the Bolgatanga- Bawku-Polmakom road will continue as well as all other projects that were started in his first term.
“The farming season is here with us and government will ensure that all inputs, especially fertilisers under the Planting for Food and Jobs are released early and made accessible to all farmers. Our problems in the past had been with the smuggling of these fertilisers and I am happy that Bawku Naba has committed himself and the traditional council to curb the smuggling this year. …Naba we are committed to the improvement of agriculture in the country, in the Bawku area, we have constructed 40 dams and some six warehouses are 80 per cent complete in Kpalwega, Bugri, Binduri, Zebilla, Pusiga and Garu. They will be completed so that farmers will get a place to store their produce,” the President intimated.
The Bawku Naba, who is also President of the Kusaug Traditional Council, Asigir Abugrago Azoka II, on his part, told his guest that the chiefs and people of the Kusaug Traditional Area, and, indeed, all Ghanaians appreciate his policies, evident in his re-election on December 7, 2020.
Congratulating President Akufo-Addo on his electoral victory, “which has put the destiny of Ghana firmly in your hands for the next four (4) years,” the Bawku Naba told the President that “you have worked hard to earn that enviable position. I wish you God’s continued blessing in wisdom as well as good health to execute your policies.”
“Mr. President, let me express my gratitude to you in respect of development in the traditional area. So far so good, especially in terms of the Free Senior High School Policy, continuation of the School Feeding Programme, Youth Employment Programme, One-Village-One-Dam, One-District-One-Factory, Planting for Food and Jobs, NABCO, construction of major bridges at Kulgungu and Tamne, and the Bolga-Bawku Road,” he said.
Thanking the President for the significant number of appointees he has chosen from the Kusaug Traditional Area, which include Alhaji Sule Yiremia as Member of the Council of State; Mr. Abdulai Abanga as Deputy Minister for Works and Housing; Fatimatu Abubakar as Deputy Minister for Information; and Mr. Abdul-Wahab Hanan Aludiba as Chief Executive Officer for the National Buffer Stock, the Bawku Naba was hopeful that other more appointments from the traditional area would be made.
Touching on the insecurity situation in and around Burkina Faso, Asigir Abugrago Azoka II stated that “this gives us a cause to worry because of our proximity to that country. Recent information indicates that some terrorists have infiltrated our borders.”
He continued, “We appeal to your office to use all means possible to prevent a spillage of the conflict into my traditional area. So far, our security services have proved equal to the task and deserve to be encouraged to do more by being highly alert.”
He also called on the government to provide district hospitals for some four districts without district hospitals under the Bawku Traditional Area, namely, Garu, Pusiga, Tempane, and Binduri.
The chief also asked the Ministry of Education to make the Kusal language an examinable language at the BECE and WASSCE levels.
“It is frustrating that though Kusal as a Ghanaian language is taught at the basic schools, the approved examinable Ghanaian languages in our six districts are Dagare, Kasem and Dagbani. These are also taught at the Gbewa College of Education, Pusiga,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo was accompanied by the Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, Minister of Interior, Ambrose Dery and the Deputy Minister of Works and Housing and MP for Binduri, Abdulai Abanga. There were other appointees and former appointees.
By Ebo Quansah