British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson with Farouk Aliu Mahama and Ya Naa in a group photo at the Gbewa palace
The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, has reiterated the UK government’s commitment to strengthen ties with Dagbon.
“With the King standing relations between the UK and Ghana which extends to Dagbon… it is my responsibility to further strengthen and develop the relationship looking into the future not only the past and I am happy to be in Yendi where that relationship goes back a long way,” she said.
She made these remarks during her visit to the Dagbon Kingdom.
According to her, the purpose of her visit to the Gbewa Palace is to get a deeper understanding of the northern part of Ghana and to collaborate with stakeholders to ensure that projects implemented by the UK government benefits everyone.
Mrs. Thompson described the King of Dagbon, Ya Naa Abukari II as a leader of peace and stability and urged him to continue to sustain the peace in Dagbon.
She commended him for his commitment to development in Dagbon and called for his continuous support to the UK government and agencies in Dagbon.
“His commitment to the development of his kingdom and his people is always wonderful to see and the developmental project in Dagbon and so we congratulate him for that,” she said.
Mrs. Thompson was of the view that projects by the UK government in areas such as education, health, women empowerment among others benefits the entire citizenry and that nobody is left out.
Ya Naa Abukari II, indicated that considering the high level of commitment and dedication to duty by the MP for Yendi Constituency, Farouk Aliu Mahama, as well as his close ties with the Embassy, he was very confident that the people of Yendi and UK can work together to further strengthen Ghana’s relationship with UK for mutual benefit.
“Your Excellency, Yendi is the traditional capital of the Dagbon Kingdom and an ancient town which harbors a number of tourist sites which serve as places of knowledge and history of the people of this great Kingdom. With similar ancient cities in the UK, I wish to use this opportunity to request for a formation of strong sister city relationship between Yendi and cities in the UK for mutual benefits in areas of development and promotion of culture and tourism. This is possible because the King of England, King Charles III and King of Dagbon Ya-Na Abukari II have similar vision of progress and prosperity for their people,” he said.
According to the King of Dagbon, the government has undertaken so many developmental projects but Yendi and its surrounding communities still face some challenges which needs support from other development agencies in the country and beyond.
“It is refreshing to note that the Kingdom in its effort towards tackling the challenges as well as attracting development partners some strategies have been put in place by the King aimed at facilitating issues regarding development of the area. The all-inclusive approach in contributing to the development of the Kingdom is captured in the 10-Year Dagbon Strategic Development plan which I wish to present to you for your study and support. It is my greatest hope that the document would meet your kind gesture and support,” he said.
He also stated that high rate of youth unemployment is a major concern to the people of Yendi which needs urgent attention adding that the youth unemployment is attributed to inadequate skills development, low ICT education among others.
“I therefore wish to use this opportunity to appeal to you to assist the youth of Dagbon with scholarships for higher education, skills training and any other support your Embassy can offer for the people of Yendi and Dagbon as a whole,” he added.
BY Eric Kombat, Yendi