The Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih has expressed his utmost displeasure in continuous smuggling of fertilizers earmarked for government’s Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) inititative.
He said although the PFJ initiative is being rolled out smoothly in the region, the smuggling of fertilizers have the potential of derailing the good intentions of the Akufo-Addo government.
He said if the security agencies are to rid the nation of the “saboteurs,” every resident has to be alert and provide relevant information to help arrest of such individuals.
“The Planting for Food and Jobs is going on the region, even as we speak, we still have stock of fertilizers and seeds yet the government is bringing more fertilizers and seeds to the region.
However, the sad aspect of it is that, some unscrupulous persons try to smuggle these fertilizers outside the region and that is not good enough.
“I therefore use this opportunity to call on all of you to be watch men. Let us watch against these saboteurs of the nation,” he said.
The minister shared the sentiments while speaking to the chiefs and people of the Lawra Traditional Area.
The visit was part of his agenda to visit all paramountcies in Upper West without dispute.
The Lawra Traditional Area is made up of one paramount chief, 8 divisional chiefs, 8 sub-divisional chief and 36 sub-chiefs.
It would be recalled that a few days ago, two thousand bags of unapproved fertilizers were intercepted by the National Security in the Upper West Region.
Two articulated trucks with registration numbers GB-8461-12 and GB-2409-12 were carrying 50 kilogram sized fertilizers from a vendor, John Dor Ventures at Nkoranza to B. B. Slow, a distributor at Gwollu in the Sissala West District.
Government had banned the transportation of 50 kilogram bags of fertilizers meant for the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) to the five regions of the north to prevent smuggling.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih again expressed his displeasure about the continued falling standard of education among pupils in the region.
He said although basic education is free coupled with the now free senior high school, it is imperative for students to remain academically excellent.
He said if students continue to perform poorly, the huge investment from the side of government would be considered as a waste of resources.
He therefore appealed to the chiefs and other stakeholders in the educational sector to make it a point to work to improve on the standard of education.
He charged the chiefs to remain committed to ensuring that children in their traditional areas who are of school going age are in school.
The Paramount Chief of the Lawra, Naa Puowelle Karbo commended the Regional Minister for his visit.
He said although he is happy about the many projects government has started, the communication of same is poor.
He challenged government to make the people understand at every stage of implementation of the promises made to Ghanaians.
He said as chiefs, they are faced with questions about projects like the One-Village-One-Dam (1V1D), One-District-One-Factory (1D1F) and the others on a daily basis.
He was optimistic that if the communication of these policies by government are properly coordinated and communicated, it would dispel rumors that government is not delivering on its promises.
He cited the 1D1F as a critical example saying “when people heard about the 1D1F, they thought NPP was coming to construct huge industrial complexes in every district and they condemned it.
But this is a grassroot industrialization policy so that every village would develop and industry for which they have a comparative advantage.”
The Chief also appealed to the Regional Minister to help recapitalize and retool the Lawra Traditional Council to enable it to undertake its duties effectively.
The Regional Minister, Dr. Bin Salih used the occasion to pay his respects to the late Naa Abeifaa Karbo who was the paramount chief of Lawra from 1967-2004.
The late Naa Karbo was also a former Member of Council of State, President of the National House of Chiefs and MP for Lawra/Nandom.
The Dr. Bin Salih recalled his great contributions to the Danquah-Dombo-Busia Tradition and mentioned him as one of the leading members of the New Patriotic Party in the region.
Story by Mark Smith
