The fear entertained by the people of the Northern region in-Government, regarding the fulfillment of the dream of bridging the yawning economic gap between the Northern and the Southern sectors, was on Wednesday 16th November, 2011 put to rest, when the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr, Kwabena Duffuor, in the 2012 budget proposal announced a package of capital injection into the Savanna Accelerated Development Project (SADA).

As part of the Atta Mills-led NDC government’s commitment to poverty reduction; a core pillar of its Better Ghana Agenda, an amount of GH¢30.0 million goes to the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority for the operational and start up programmes in 2012, in view of its vision of raising the living conditions of the good people of the Northern region, and most praticularly, bridge the poverty gap that for years has been left unattended to.

In addition to allocation, government has promised to create an investment fund window for long-term investment in the SADA zone, in accordance with Act 805, 2010.

According to Ghana’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, government in its commitment to making life better for the people of the North, will raise an additional amount of GH¢200million as seed money for the SADA Investment Fund.

Dr. Duffuor stated that a donor conference is scheduled to be held on 21st November 2011, to review the project’s long-term investment needs, seek to align current and future donor funding to the needs.

The aim of the conference, the Minister revealed, will enable the various stakeholders to examine the funding gap for financing SADA’s immediate programs and agree on the level of additional funding that is feasible from Development Partners.
The conference will also offer Donors and other Private sector investors the opportunity to contribute towards the long-term investment fund for SADA. The target is to bring the investment funding portfolio up to 500 million, by building on Government’s initial deposit of 200 million into the seed fund.
In related development, the Central Region, under His Excellency Professor John Evans Atta Mills –led NDC government Better Ghana Agenda, will receive its fair share of the national cake with an amount of GH¢10.9 million, voted in the 2012 budget statement, to take care of the regions Development Commission (CEDECOM).
Additional GH¢10.0 million will be channelled into supporting the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) in the region.
The Local Enterprise and Skills Development Programme (LESDEP) aimed at empowering the youth through the acquisition of technical and entrepreneurial skills, and to support job creation at the local level, received a major boost, the Minister revealed.
Apart from the GH¢12.00 million already spent on this initiative, an allocation of GH¢63.00 million has been made for the programme in the 2012 fiscal year following the impact made with regards to job creation, particularly jobs for the youth.
Committed to reducing the canker of poverty forced unto Ghanaians by the erstwhile Kufuor administration, the Mills government in its budget proposal has promised to inject an amount of GH¢35million to fund the activities of the Microfinance and Small-Scale Centre (MASLOC).
Already, MASLOC, as mandated to provide, manage and regulate approved funds for microfinance and small scale credit loan schemes and programmes, new loans to benefit 31,793 customers amounting to GH¢15.2million had been disbursed by the end of July 2011.
Of the critical poverty reduction programmes and projects undertaken in the first 9 months of the 2011 fiscal year, Minister Kwabena further highlighted on some achievements of the Atta Mills administration.
According to the Dr. Duffour, GH¢783.61 million was spent on basic education; GH¢455.13 million was spent on primary health care programmes; GH¢6.71 million was spent on rural water provision; GH¢30.03 million was spent to provide electricity for our rural dwellers; GH¢66.4 million was used to fund the Fertilizer Subsidy Programme to support rural agriculture and the establishment of Agricultural Mechanization Services Centers;
GH¢36.33 million was used to provide rural roads; and GH¢897.22 million was spent on other poverty related activities, including social welfare, public safety, drainage systems, environmental protection, rural housing, and decentralization
Other social intervention programmes implemented to support poverty reduction include the following:
In the education sector, GH¢138 million was spent in fiscal year 2011 on capitation grants, BECE and Senior High School subsidies, supply of free exercise books and school uniforms in deprived communities, rebuilding of schools under trees, rehabilitation/construction of science resource centers, and scholarships for further studies.
This figure will increase to GH¢179.28 million in fiscal year 2012, Dr. Duffour hinted. In addition, GH¢60.00 million was spent in 2011 on the School Feeding Programme and will receive GH¢60.00 million in 2012.
The above-enumerated tremendous achievements and other provision made towards reducing poverty by Mills led-NDC government will eventually dispel the fear of Ghanaians particularly, the people of the Northern region and send the NPP packing with its empty noise being made about SADA.