The North Has Not Been Neglected - Ayim

The Special Assistant to the Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, Mr Ferdinand Ayim, has appealed to Ghanaians not to look at the development of the nation from a parochial point of view.

He said people should “stress on the things that bind us together and not create divisions”. The Special Assistant said these when “The Evening News” contacted him for government’s reaction to the accusation levelled against it by the Upper West Regional Chairman of the People’s National Convention (PNC), that the government was biased against the north.

Dr Edward Gyader, who made the assertion, also said that the Presidential Initiative on cassava, palm oil and other crops covered only the south, to the detriment of guinea corn, Soya bean, sheanut and cotton which are crops from the north.

Mr Ayim told “The Evening News” that it was unfortunate that people had created compartments into which they analysed development and said the lessons of the sub-region should be their guide. He said whatever development took place in any part of Ghana had a direct bearing on the north, adding that similarly whatever took place in the north died not only benefit northerners “but the entire country.” ‘That one part of the country had been served does not mean the others would not be served”. Mr Ayim continued, “The Presidential Initiative is not just a happenstance but it is a positive change which is a process”.

Quoting from the Ministry’s document “Ghana Positive Change 2002 developing our communities”, the Special Assistant said as part of the initiative to develop the garment industry, there was the attempt to develop the cotton industry. “The government has a close interest in cotton and a lot of factories would be created to promote that industry,” Mr Ayim told this reporter.

He indicated that the government hoped to cut the import of rice by 30 per cent within its four-year term and that would mean improving the production of rice in the north. “This does not mean government is oblivious of the potentials of that region”, he stressed. Mr Ayim said per capita of the nation was not only obtained from one part of the country, adding per capita is the aggregate of what Ghanaians earn and not what a particular region earns”.

The Special Assistant said within the short term of the NPP’s administration, it could boast of a lot of agricultural programmes in the Upper West Region.