The Vice President, Mr. John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday announced that, government has already released GH¢100 million as its first tranche of funds for the smooth running of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) activities and that the money has been deposited in SADA’s account.

He said the remaining GH¢100 million seed capital for SADA would be released in the second quarter of the year to support the execution of projects for accelerated development.

Vice President Mahama said this when he inaugurated the SADA Stakeholders Coordinating Committee in Tamale under the theme “Investing in people, jobs and strategic infrastructure”.

The members of the committee is made up of Regional Ministers, Chiefs, Economic Planning Officers, Non-governmental Organizations and members of the private sector of the regions in the SADA zone.

They would among other activities provide inputs into all SADA projects and programmes and liaise with management to ensure successful implementation and execution.

Vice President Mahama blamed the disparity between the Northern and Southern sectors of the country on colonial masters who, he said, used Northerners as the working class without adequate educational institutions.

He said government has also presented the five-year medium development plans of SADA to parliament for approval as a working document of the Authority.

Vice President Mahama announced that, the Chinese Government had provided a grant of GH¢12 million to purchase agricultural equipment to expand the sector to reverse the current North-South migration for non-existent jobs.

He said two rice mills would be positioned at the SADA ecological zone to purchase paddy rice from all the farmers and create jobs for more farmers.

The Vice President gave the assurance that shea nut farmers would be encouraged under SADA programme to produce large quantities of shea butter to be exported to Europe and other parts of the world.

Mr. Alhassan Andani, Board Chairman of SADA said the Stakeholders Coordinating Committee would serve as the general assembly that would offer advice to the Authority on its activities to achieve its goals.

Northern Regional Minister, Mr. Moses Bukari Mabengba expressed gratitude for the progress made so far in SADA’s activities and observed that its progress would grow from strength to strength.

He gave the assurance that by the end of SADA's mandate period of 20 years, poverty would have been a thing of the past in the savannah zone.

The Veep later symbolically handed over the cheque of GHc100 million to the Board Chairman, Mr. Alhassan Andani.**