Let's bridge the North-South disparity - Dr. Osafo

Accra, Dec. 16, GNA - Government should make conscious effort to bridge the development disparity between Northern and Southern Ghana in order to forestall any major conflicts in the future.

Dr Kwaku Osafo, International Development Economist, gave the advice at the launch of share capital sales drive of the Damongo-based Buuwulonso One-Stop Rural Bank in Accra at the week end. He said the economic development disparity between the North and the South was frightening and there was the need to pump more money into the North.

Dr. Osafo, who is a Leading Member of the Patriots, a pressure group formed by members of the Convention People's Party (CPP), said if the potentials of the vast land in the North were exploited, the chasm that existed between the North and the South would be bridged. He said the North could be developed to become a major breadbasket for the country and a source for the production of non-traditional crops for export.

Lepowura M. N. D. Jawula, Chief Director of Ministry of Health, urged the youth, especially those from Gonjaland, to buy shares in the Bank.

The Buuwulonso One-Stop Rural Bank (BORB) launched its share capital sales drive to sell 1.7 million shares in multiples of 10 at 1,000 cedis each to raise 1.7 billion cedis at the weekend in Accra.

Dr Mike Abu Sakara Foster, a Principal Promoter of the Bank, said the Bank has already raised 1.39 billion cedis out of the projected target and called on investors to join the bandwagon. Buuwulonso, which means "enhancing our dignity," has its headquarters at Damango in the Northern Region.

Dr Foster said the Bank started as a community effort to help to boost development by providing additional source of financing to support and scale up enterprises of farmers and processors in the Central Gonja, West Gonja, Bole and Wa Districts in the north-western corner of Ghana. The enterprises included those engaged in soya beans, groundnuts and shea-butter processing.

Dr. Foster said: "The share capital ownership is open to everybody wherever you hail from in Ghana. It is primarily an investment opportunity and to provide services that would enhance the livelihood of our brothers and sisters that live in rural areas. "Theirs is a life of toil and we can help to make that burden lighter by providing the needed financing to start and expand their small rural micro enterprises", he said, adding; "when you support a rural bank you support rural people and every one of us has relatives in rural areas".

He said apart from deriving returns from investments, the Bank would also offer opportunity for those undertaking development projects in its catchment area to know more about rural banking. 16 Dec. 06