Bongo celebrates Awuni's appointment

The chiefs and people of the Bongo Traditional Area in the Upper East Region on Saturday held a durbar at Bongo to celebrate the appointment of Mr Andrew Awuni, a native of the area, as Deputy Minister of Information.

\Mr Awuni is the second person from that area to hold ministerial appointment since independence, the first being Mr William Amorro a former Deputy Minister of Education during the First Republic, who also hailed from Bongo.

Speaking at the durbar, Mr Awuni said the people had good cause to rejoice because for the very first time in their lives they were beginning to feel, through his appointment, that they were part of government.

He said for the two years that the government had been in office, 45 new schools had been constructed in the district, with 23 more to be provided through the support of the British Department for International Development (DFID), adding that this development had lent a new impetus to the educational drive in the area.

The Deputy Minister further indicated that the road network in the Bongo area, which used to be among the worst in the region, was beginning to see significant improvement saying "the Bolgatanga-Bongo main road has been awarded on contract for tarring at a cost of 14 billion cedis, and 10 billion cedis has already been released for the project to commence immediately."

He added that most of the roads within the district, which hitherto were unmotorable had been rehabilitated, citing the roads to Dua, Zokko, and Soe.

Mr Awuni also announced plans for the construction of a new hospital at Bongo. Furthermore, government had procured a tomato-processing machine to be installed in the Vea area where farmers produced tonnes of tomatoes every year, he added.

He said although many governments had come and gone since independence, none of them deemed it fit to provide any of these facilities for the people of the area whose votes had helped propel them to power, except the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

"These are the positive changes the people of Bongo are beginning to experience in their lives and for which they celebrate here today," the Deputy Minister declared.

He urged the people to discard what he termed "politics of money and alcohol," and to strive to read into the real intentions of politicians who come to them.

The Regional Minister, Mr Mahami Salifu, said Mr Awuni's appointment was yet another testimony of the fact that the NPP Government was a national one and not just the preserve of a particular group of people.

"Our doors are open for everyone irrespective of their political, ethnic or religious leanings," he said.

Mr Salifu urged the people to pay attention to the education of their children, especially the girl-child, as some of them could become ministers of state or even presidents in future.

The chief of Bongo, Naba Akumolga Ndow, expressed gratitude to the government for amply demonstrating its concern for the development of the Bongo area, and reaffirmed the people's support for the NPP.

Mr Robert Ajene, Presiding Member of the Bongo District Assembly, urged the people to throw their support behind the newly appointed minister to enable him to discharge his functions creditably and exhorted Mr Awuni to work hard to justify the confidence reposed in him by the President.