Bismark Adongo Ayorogo (3rd left) speaking at the press conference
The Coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) zone says government’s attitude towards the restructured SADA is undermining its sustainability.
Bismark Adongo Ayorogo, Executive Secretary of the Coalition of CSOs, who was speaking at a press conference in Accra yesterday, said Parliament in 2010 saw SADA as an institution capable of facilitating total socio-economic transformation of the northern savannah areas and therefore unanimously passed a legislation to back its operations.
He said the SADA Law (Act 805, 2010), which is yet to have a Legislative Instrument (LI) to further strengthen SADA’s legal position enjoins government to resource SADA, as well as introduce levies on all non-petroleum imports to fund the Authority.
Mr Ayorogo said since 2013, no budgetary allocation had been made to SADA and the law on introducing levies on non-petroleum imports to fund SADA is yet to be enforced.
Political Parties commitment
He called on all political parties in this year’s elections to prioritize SADA in their manifestos.
This, according to him, would ensure that the SADA project continues and addresses poverty and inequality in Ghana, irrespective of which political party comes to power.
He said, “The history and rationale behind the establishment of the Northern Development Fund (NDF), which was later broadened and rechristened SADA tells us the extent to which multiparty consensus was built around a common agenda to build a balanced, even and equitable development of mother Ghana.”
He cited allegations of corruption leveled against former officials of SADA.
He called on all political parties to prioritize SADA and focus on agricultural-led transformation of the northern savannah ecological zone.
“This will undoubtedly halt and reverse the continuous decline in Ghana’s agricultural sector growth rate and save Ghana an amount of $1.5 billion used annually for food imports,” he said.
By Cephas Larbi
cephrok@yahoo.com