The 11th National Delegates Congress of BONABOTO has been held in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, with a call on the government to as a matter of urgency upgrade the Bolgatanga Polytechnic to be at par with the rest of the country’s polytechnics that have been upgraded into technical universities by the ruling government, to make more competitive.
The Congress which comes off every two years since 2000 was to take stock and also highlight some critical areas that need central government’s attention.
It was under the theme “Enhancing Integrated Community Development, the Role of BONABOTO”.
In his opening address, the National President of BONOBOTO Dr. Andrews Akolaa said that, the theme is chosen to trigger the “all hands on deck philosophy and on the bases of the dynamics of our time”.
No Community would realise their development agenda, except with a collective mind- set against individualism indicated that, any special intervention put in place to serve as a vehicle such as Northern Development Authority NDA to develop and improve a marginalized society such the as the Upper East Region was a good, but lamented, the fact that funding to the Northern Development Authority has been changed significantly.
Dr. Akolaa stated further that, though all the major political parties have recognized it and given it so many names, apart from the seed capital, the erstwhile SADA Act 805-2010 spelt out clearly a levy (TAX) on non-petroleum imports as the major and sustainable source of funding for SADA activities.
Unfortunately, in the new NDA ACT Act 2017 this is not the case. All development Authorities including; Coastal, Middle Belt and Northern are to be funded from the one constituency one million dollar funding based on the number of constituencies in each development authority area and the consolidated fund.
Regarding the Bolgatanga Airport, Dr. Akolaa said that, BONABOTO have made a lot of effort in following the matter.
Other areas of concerned Dr. Akolaa stated were the quality of roads constructed in the region, making Gurune an examinable language at the BECE level, climate change and the government to use the laudable social intervention policy of One-District-One-Factory to revamp the existing Zuarungu and Pwalugu factories or if obsolete, build new ones to engender development in the region.
In her address, the Upper East Regional Minister, Paulina Abayage congratulated BONABOTO for effectively organizing its members to promote and play advocacy role, in ensuring the socio-economic development of some parts of the region and further urged the group to strengthen its activities in other areas.
The Minister stated that, the President of the Republic of Ghana through the Nation Builders Corps has employed over hundred thousand unemployed graduates youth into seven modules aimed at tapping the requisite human resource that was being wasted, to contribute their quota towards development.
Story by Emmanuel Akayeti
