Mion MP unhappy about disbursement of poverty fund

Gbungbaliga (Northern Region) 24 March '99

Alhaji Ibrahim Alabira, Member of Parliament for Mion, has expressed dissatisfaction over the administration of the poverty alleviation fund in the Yendi district. The fund, he said should be administered in a manner that would bring improvement in the lives of people in the district. Alhaji Alabira was reacting to complaints of opinion leaders in the constituency at a forum at Gbungbaliga that the disbursement of the fund had not been transparent enough. The forum discussed strategies for the development of the area, the welfare of the people and how to administer the districts share of the poverty alleviation fund fairly. Alhaji Alabira said the Yendi district is supposed to have disbursed 172 million cedis of the poverty alleviation fund in 1998, "but the mode of distribution is still a mystery". He called on the district assembly to evolve strategies to enable the fund to benefit as many people as possible irrespective of their political affiliation. Alhaji Alabira said he and the MP for Yendi, Alhaji Al- Hassan Malik, will discuss the issue with the Yendi district chief executive. The people expressed their reservations about a rehabilitation programme for communities that were affected by the 1994 ethnic conflict. They said several years after the programme was launched, many communities in the Mion constituency are yet to benefit from the package.