Stakeholders on the need to achieve ending open defecation in the Upper West Region last week launched the Regional League Table on the Open Defecation Free for the region at SEM-B lodge in Wa.
The gathering hosted Traditional Rulers, MMDCEs, Coordinating Directors, Environmental Health Officers and other champions of ODF.
The league is supported by UNICEF and other implementation agencies and covers all eleven districts in the region. Nandom, Wa west and Daffiama/Bussie/IssaI Assemblies are the top three while Sissala East, Jirapa and Wa Assemblies at the bottom of the table.
On the table, it was disclosed that out of the total of 1,167 communities in the region by 1st November this year, only 531 of them had attained ODF status. This represent 45.5 percent of the total population.
The ceremony also created the opportunity for best practice to be shared amongst the various Assemblies to better achieve the desired target for an ODF region.
This feat may however be the biggest challenge to succeed as five assemblies could not make a 50 percent coverage with the Nadowli and Wa Assemblies scoring just 19 percent at the bottom of the scorecard.
Of about a total population of 689,160 only 23,137 Household Latrines serve the huge number of people in the region with only 148,902 living in ODF communities, and scored 21.6 percent of the total population.
The Deputy Regional Minister Hon Amidu Chinnia who represented the Regional Minister at the meeting, noted that the ODF league is aimed at improving transparency and accountability in the regional development through sanitation and improvement made where targeted support is needed.
He noted that issues of sanitation deserve utmost attention as commitment to duty and change of attitudes towards work by major stakeholders is very important in achieving a total ODF in the region.
Participants at the gathering were encouraged to emulate best ODF practice in achieving an ODF status from the districts that performed better on the league table.
Participants however called on the Assemblies to give the field officers the enabling environment to operate to achieve the national targets in our localities.
Some personalities and Assemblies also received some motivation in the form of rewords for their contributions to the successes chalked so far in ODF in the region.



The Upper West Regional Minister, Hon. Alhaji Alhassan Suleiman has sent a strong message to trouble shooters in the region that the law will catch up with them if they dare foment any kind of trouble in the region. Speaking at the 30th edition of the annual Kakube Festival of the Nandom Traditional Area on Sunday 25th December 2018, Alhaji Suleiman said the security agencies in the region are putting in place measures to ensure that crime is brought to the barest minimum in order to attract investors into the area.
Barely three months after throwing a challenge to the opposition NDC to mention any social intervention policy they implemented during their eight year stay in power, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has thrown another one to the opposition party.

The Upper West Deputy Regional Minister, Hon Amidu Chinia Issahaku has hinted that government is in the process of recruiting over three thousand permanent agriculture extension officers. Out of the three thousand to be recruited half of the number would be recruited by the Local Government Service and the remaining half would be recruited by the Ministry of Agriculture to educate farmers on new methods of farming and agronomic practices. The Deputy Minister made this remark at the second Upper West Post Harvest losses forum in Wa on Tuesday 29th January, 2019.
He noted that, in spite of the efforts above, post-harvest losses continue to be a major challenge for farmers across the country, especially the Upper West Region. He therefore called on all gathered to put all hands on deck in the fight against post-harvest losses.
According to the Country Program Manager of SNV Mr Eric Banye, the voice for change program is an evidence based advocacy programme being implemented by SNV Netherlands Development Organization in partnership with the International Food and Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The funding is for a period of five years spanning 2016 to 2020 and is being implemented in six countries namely, Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, Indonesia, Honduras and Burkina Faso.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Hon. Alhaji Sulemana on Tuesday 28th November 2018 directed all assemblies in the region to submit their yearly reports to the Upper West Regional Coordinating council by 7th December. This directive was given at the Regional Coordinating Council a meeting which involved the assemblies, departmental heads and other stakeholders.

Hon. Alhassan Sulemana, in response to some comments by the Regional Director of Education on the falling standards of education in the Region, hinted his desires to quickly call on UNICEF to intervene on the mater. “We will discuss our issues of education challenges with UNICEF and try to impress upon them to extend their support to all districts in the region,” he noted.
The Ag. UW Regional Minister, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku has directed Municipal and District Chief Executives and Coordinating Directors in the Upper West Region to play active roles in the development of the Region and the country as a whole.


The Smallholder Agricultural Mechanization Project (SAMP) is a project which seeks to improve the incomes and agricultural productivity of 15,000 smallholder farmers in the Upper West Region through increased access to mechanization services of simple and affordable machinery that will also not disturb the soil structure.


The Office of the Head of the Local Government Service in collaboration with the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council had on Monday 17th September 2018 organized a Regional sensitization workshop on the inter-service and sectorial collaboration and cooperation system at the upper West Regional Coordinating Council. The workshop was organized to enhance and improve the existing collaboration and cooperation among institutions and agencies of state.
The acting Upper West Regional Minister Hon. Amidu Chinnia Issahaku has called on Traditional leaders in the Upper West Region to stop negative activities hampering on the development of the region.


The Upper West Regional Minister Hon. Alhassan Sulemana at the first 2019 staff durbar on Thursday, 17th January, 2019 called on staff of the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council to remain committed and hardworking in the discharge of their duties. The staff durbar that is held twice or thrice every year, creates the avenue for Staff and Management to interact, and address key issues bothering the organization by find lasting solutions to such concerns to enhance service delivery.
Hon. Sulemana encouraged staff to be punctual at work and avoid rumor mongering and other unhealthy workplace practices. He said, rumor mongering breeds suspicions and leads to petty squabbles that kill organizational progress. The Minister assured staff that his doors were opened to all and called for all hands on deck in pushing the developmental agenda of the region forward in order to fulfil the vision of His Excellency the President for the Upper West Region.
The Upper West Regional Coordinating Council mourns Fifty nine year old Upper West Regional Coordinating Director Alhaji Abdulai Abubakari. The indomitable and hard working Regional Coordinating Director who hails from the Upper West Region passed on at the Wa regional hospital on 22nd December 2018 after a short illness.
The Hon Upper West Regional Minister, Alhaji Alhassan Sulemana, described the late RCD as a big asset lost from the Upper West Region and would be forever remembered for his good deeds and hard works in bringing development to Upper West Region. He said since his assumption of office as the Upper West Regional Minister, late Alhaji Abdulai had played a very important key role in most of the successes achieved so far in the Region.