SADA has done no wrong, says new group

A new group calling itself Eye on SADA has said the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) has done nothing wrong in partnering with the Asongtaba group in guinea fowl and afforestation projects in the Northern Region.

The organisation, claiming to be a group of young men from the savannah area, says that attempts to discredit the project are "unpatriotic" and will hinder the development of the region.

The guinea fowl and afforestation projects have been criticised for their viability and the amount of money which has been committed to them. It has been suggested in the media that the money would have been better used to support farmers already in the guinea fowl industry instead of partnering with Asongtaba which is owned by Rlg boss Roland Agambire, the businessman also behind the Hope City project in Kasoa.

Read their full statement below:

SADA HAS COME TO STAY: MESSAGE TO OPPOSERS OF NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT A PRESS RELEASE BY: EYE ON SADA, IN THE NORTHERN REGION-TAMALE

We have listened and observed with keen interest the uproar that engulfed the country following the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority( SADA) and its partnership with Asongtaba to establish a guinea fowl project/ afforestation in the SADA catchment area.

We have also gone through the objectives, functions, vision, mission and SADA strategy and activities. Conclusion arrived at is simple - SADA has not erred nor have they gone anywhere outside their mandate to warrant the blatant mischief, embarrassment and the name-tarnishing that has hit the entire body of SADA, which has the tendency of affecting its dealings with Sponsors and Development Partners.

As a group of young men from the SADA Zone, and people who have most of our hope in SADA to help bridge the gap between the north and south, we are but disappointed in all the characters who played a part in this unfortunate but preventable situation.

Many of the actors in the issue could have saved the nation this embarrassment, if they took a little time to do simple cross checking of facts and figures. The Finance Committee of Parliament has done a lot of harm to its reputation, with the partisan lenses with which they viewed the activities of SADA, since they have every opportunity and legal mandate per their stature in governance to have spent a little more time investigating more on issues before making mockery of their utterance involving SADA and ASONGTABA.

The MP for Effutu constituency, Mr. Alex Afenyo-Markins, was the first to do so in a very unpalatable manner, only to swallow back his vomit and calling for restraint by critics concerning SADA guinea fowl project.

The simple question that comes to mind is: Do this group of people wish the SADA zone beneficiaries well? We wish to first and foremost demand an unqualified apology to the entire work force of SADA and the CEO in particular by the MP, since he has since realized he got it all wrong, but got his apparatchiks lambasting and singing guinea fowl songs all weeks round, if he wishes to be called Honorable with dignity.

It is common knowledge that the CEO of SADA is from the North, Board Chairman of SADA from the north, and H.E. the President of the republic of Ghana, is also from the North. So if all these illustrious sons of the north cannot be trusted in implementing a single project in their home to benefit their own, who and where do we turn to for help? That is why we see this whole noise as calculated attempts to tarnish the hard won reputation of these illustrious individuals, rather than a critic. No wonder the NPP failed to implement an alternative accelerated development agenda for the North.

The guinea fowl project that has created this furore is just but one out of many projects that SADA is implementing, which is still at the very first stage of project implementation and execution. In 2012, SADA had under taken many beneficial programs aimed at improving the lives of people in its catchment area: Maize cultivation was 8,884 hectares (22,209 acres) benefiting about 11,000 farm households. The A forestation program has engaged about 5,496 Field Assistants, who are to plant close to 4,500 hectares. Actual seedlings planted as at 2012 numbered 5,500,000 (on 4,860 hectares) in all the zones. Dry season farming also chalked about 233 acres in the three Northern Regions, employing close to about 1,350 people.

It is therefore disturbing to overlook all these efforts, but single out guinea fowl project as the reason why SADA is not worthwhile. As a group we take serious note of the attempt by certain persons who wish to see an end to SADA activities in the Northern part of Ghana, and therefore wish to assure them that we will be ready for them as and when.

These calculated attempt to cause disaffection among SADA Sponsors and development partners is not only unfortunate, but also unpatriotic and we in the SADA ZONE takes serious exception to this mischief.

We are calling on all those who will like to see the huge gap bridged between the North and South, to cry out loud and be heard, since activities being rolled out and others yet to be seen in the next years are very dear not only to the catchment area, but the entire national economy. One of such projects is the SADA/DH Solargiga partnership, to produce between 20-40 megawatts of solar energy and feed to the National Grid.

EYE ON SADA, wish to reiterate all people in the SADA zone to rise to the occasion and get interested in the activities of SADA, so as to be abreast with its activities. Ensuring that any garbage thrown out in the public to deceive and destroy their newly born baby SADA is not swallowed hook line and sinker without prior verification.

The sing-song yesterday was: “ SADA is a deceit, No money for SADA, Government should resource SADA TO rollout programs” , Now that government has resourced SADA to kick-start activities and programs, the songs have changed to : “ let us hang SADA, SADA is over spending, plenty money for SADA, 15Million, 47million” etc. What else?

SADA is a good project, SADA is working within its mandate, SADA has verifiable and productive programs and projects, with a time tested CEO, and hardworking, tried and tested Board. They should be encouraged to deliver but not run down without any credible evidence.

It is our hope that everyone in the catchment area of SADA will keep an eye on SADA, so as to contribute meaningfully towards its sustenance.

President

B. Y. Alhassan