The Divisional Chief speaking during the handing over ceremony. INSET: The motorised boat
Sing-Lana Alhaji Naa Iddi Lansah Seidu, the Divisional Chief of the Sing Traditional Area in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region, has donated a motorised boat to the Dulun Sing community.
Addressing journalists at a short handing over ceremony, the Divisional Chief, who is also a serving Deputy Commissioner of Police at the Police Headquarters in Accra, said the community lost two women who were being transported on a small canoe, which capsized on the White Volta.
“My aim is to avert this kind of disaster of losing two people from my community. It was really unfortunate and I hope and pray that such an incident will never happen again in this community,” he said.
According to him, the boat will enhance business and economic activities in the area by ensuring that traders are able to cross to the other communities to transact their businesses safely and peacefully.
“We do not have any means of transport or road except by canoe on the river, and even during the dry season you will still need the canoe to carry you across the river,” he explained.
He, however, lamented about the struggles pregnant women go through to access healthcare and how they have to be transported to health facilities across the river to other communities.
The Sing-Lana, therefore, appealed to government to provide the Sing community with a road infrastructure.
“It is our expectation and hope that when government is distributing the national cake, we will also get our share,” he stated.
He urged government to build a bridge on the river because the Sing community is the shortest route to the Upper East Region, adding that this can boost economic activities for the people of Sing and the Upper East Region.
The Divisional Chief of the Sing Traditional Area, called on investors to come to the Sing community and invest in agriculture.
“I believe that if we have a bridge built on the river the Sing community will be the food basket of the nation because our soil is rich and can support rice, maize, yam, and cowpea cultivation among others. We have lands that we can allocate for people to farm for domestic use and export, but because of the river it is too expensive to transport farm produce across,” he pointed out.
He entreated the community to ensure that they maintain the engine boat so that it will serve the community and the traditional area as a whole.
Some community members, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE, expressed their gratitude to the Divisional Chief of the Sing Traditional Area for coming to their aid by providing them with the engine boat.
“We thank him so much for supporting us with the boat. It will go a long way to help us in terms of transportation because most of us are farmers and it is always difficult to transport our farm produce from the farm to the market to sell as well as transporting us to other communities with ease,” they disclosed.
FROM Eric Kombat, Sing