The vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has observed a depressing state of affairs in the northern part of country, saying the people in the three regions of the north have become poorer under President John Dramani Mahama and his governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He bemoaned that the livelihoods of northerners have deteriorated in the last eight years under the NDC administration and attributed this gloomy situation to deep-seated corruption and incompetence of the Mahama administration.
Speaking to residents of Sang in the Mion Constituency in the Northern Region, Dr. Bawumia stated that but for corruption and incompetence of the Mahama administration, the people of the North would have seen an improvement in their lives.
He has therefore called on northerners to vote for the NPP presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo and the party’s parliamentary candidates in the December 7 polls to bring a competent government that will truly transform the lives of the people.
The NPP vice presidential candidate, who had been campaigning in the Northern Region for the past 17 days, had toured about 20 out of the 31 constituencies in the region where he expressed sadness about the plight of the people.
“I am ending this first leg of my tour with a lot of sadness. I have seen so much poverty, so much underdevelopment, basic infrastructure in many of our villages is non-existent and the levels of poverty are so high.
“President Mahama with the SADA could have done something major. The resources of SADA could have reduced the poverty of the people of Northern Ghana but the corruption of this government in the management of the SADA programme.
The mismanagement and incompetence of this government has led to our people being poorer after eight years of this NDC administration,” Dr. Bawumia stated.
He mentioned a number of key sectors in which the NDC’s mismanagement had made life unbearable for the people of the North.
Dr. Bawumia specifically cited the disturbing issue of Feeding Grants for Senior High Schools in Northern Ghana, which the government has failed to pay for two terms.
He regretted that a government led by a northerner will be so insensitive to the future generation and called on the government to immediately pay the feeding grants to allow the students study without going through mental torture.
Dr. Bawumia reaffirmed the NPP’s pledge to restructure the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to a Northern Development Authority (NDA) led by competent and incorruptible officials.
“This is the reason why we need a change. We are going to reorganize SADA. We are going to create a Northern Development Authority. We will appoint people of competence and integrity to handle this Authority, and people who are incorruptible to handle these resources”, he said.
NDA, Dr. Bawumia pointed out, will focus on developing basic infrastructure to support agriculture and industry.
“We will bring in a major focus on agriculture, a major focus on irrigation and the roads in the Northern Region to improve agriculture,” he said.
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