NORPRA applauds government ...

.... for termination of guinea fowl and afforestation contracts but questions commitment to retrieve funds

Members of Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA) while commending government for terminating the contracts of the guinea fowl and afforestation projects between SADA and Asongtaaba Cottage Industries (ACI), are also questioning government’s commitment in retrieving all these huge sums of monies paid to ACI.

In the opinion of NORPRA, a mere termination of the contracts without taking a step further to act swiftly for the retrieval of all funds doled out to Asongtaaba Cottage Industries will not only be a meaningless exercise but also a lack of practical commitment to the fight against corruption. Admittedly, SADA in its entirety is a well thought-through pro-poor programme that has the huge potential of not only reducing poverty and unemployment levels in significant proportions in northern Ghana but also, through its afforestation project, very capable of adequately dealing with the terrible effects of climate change in the savannah area in particular and the country as a whole, therefore, government must do all that it takes to ensure that SADA survives Those policy makers who equally knew very well that Asongtaaba Cottage Industries had no single track record in guinea fowl production and afforestation programme and went ahead to facilitate the process of awarding the contracts need to join ACI in adducing concrete reasons why the laws on causing financial loss to the state should not catch up with them. The fact that the SADA board failed in its core mandate to establish appropriate systems and mechanisms for the monitoring and supervision of these projects to ensure that the state receives value for money makes its continuous stay in office very questionable. If indeed corruption is mass murder as decried by the President and government is really committed to fighting it then real action needs to be taken immediately to ensure that every single pesewa spent on the guinea fowl and afforestation projects is properly accounted for. With the decision of government to involve the Forestry Commission and the University for Development Studies, an institution with very remarkable capacity and unquestionable expertise to deal with the socio-economic development challenges of the savannah ecological zone, NORPRA is very hopeful that SADA will in no time be transformed and positioned well with a new image that rekindles and restores hope to effectively function according to its mandate for improved livelihoods of the poorest segment of our society. signed Bismark Adongo Ayorogo (President) 0209313630