Posts in category: News

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 29^th January, 2019.

Speaking on food security in the region, he indicated that, Government has made food security a priority in Ghana and this has informed government’s Planting for Food and Jobs Campaign which was successfully implemented in the last two farming seasons. He added that, under the One  District, One Warehouse initiative, government has commenced the construction of a number of warehouses in the region to help store farm produce and manage post-harvest losses. He said seven Warehouses were under construction in the Upper West Region.

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.

Highlighting on methods of reducing post-harvest losses, Hon Chinia indicated that, our roads need to be worked on since bad roads contributed to post-harvest losses. He elaborated that farmers find it difficult moving their farm produces from rural areas to the market centers or the urban areas in order to sell their produce. Secondly, the roads are so bad that it is sometimes very difficult to get trucks to carry the farm produce. When they even get the trucks, the cost of transportation increases and eventually affects the profit margin of the farmers as explained by the Deputy Minister. Hon. Chinia however indicated the commitment of Government in fixing most of the roads in the region.

He explained that when the government of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa took over as President of this country, the previous government took a loan from UBA against the road fund and that for the last two years, the road fund that comes into the accounts goes to service principal of the loan and the interest. He said steps were being taken to offset the loan so that the road fund which is the major source fund for roads in Ghana can be available to tackle the road networks in Ghana.

Hon. Chinnia added that, Government through the European Union is implementing a project which is affecting all the districts in the region called Market Oriented Project (MOAP). He said the project is to address the poor nature of our roads, irrigation, issues of warehouses, farmer’s orientation and also issues of climate change. He said all these were steps taken to enhance productivity and prevent post-harvest losses in agriculture.

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.

He added that, the Ghana program is focused on three themes. Food and Nutrition Security; Renewable Energy; and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

The Upper West Regional Minister, Hon. Alhaji Sulemana on Tuesday 28^th November 2018 directed all assemblies in the region to submit their yearly reports to the Upper West Regional Coordinating council by 7^th December. This directive was given at the Regional Coordinating Council a meeting which involved the assemblies, departmental heads and other stakeholders.

Hon Alhassan Sulemana used the occasion to thank Regional House of Chiefs and other stakeholders for their commitment towards the realization of autonomy of Wa campus of the University for Development Studies. According to him, the President of the Republic of Ghana on 10^th November 2018 announced that Cabinet had granted approval for the autonomy of the Wa campus of the UDS awaiting Parliamentary approval.

He also acknowledged the tremendous contributions of REGSEC, Regional Heads of Department and development partners such as UNICEF, CIDA, USAID, the Northern Ghana Governance Authority, KOICA, JICA, GIZ, the Civil Society Organizations, and the Media among others in the governance of the Region. He reiterated that the management of the region does not lie solely in the hands of the Regional Minister and the central administration. “We have all been positioned with our various mandate to contribute to the development of the region. It is only with concerted effort that we can succeed” he added.

He indicated that more than fifty percent of our people depend on agriculture for their livelihood. This simply means that when the farmer is better off, then living conditions would have improved. He said government is committed to improving the agricultural sector and that massive injection of funds into the sector in the past years has seen increased in land sizes for cultivation this year. He added that the Planting for Food and Jobs Program was on course and by next year government will introduce agricultural machineries to facilitate the mechanization of the sector.

Touching on decentralization, he indicated that the effectiveness of the MMDAs as planning and semi-autonomous authorities depends largely on their ability to generate resources locally. “What pertains currently is that the MMDAs depends so much on central government and other external transfers to function.” He added. He stressed that the internally generated funds were inadequate to be used for any developmental activities, not even enough for their day to day administrative functions. He lamented that reports from the RCC monitoring team indicate that the IGFs were below Ten Percent of the total funds received by the Municipal and District Assemblies which is quite worrisome.

According to him, the non- functionality of the various towns/Area council and Unit Committee have an effect on revenue mobilization. He said this lower level structures have a significant role to play in the revenue and other resource mobilization drive and other functions of the assembly. He therefore tasked all MMDCEs to ensure that these structures are properly constituted, well equipped and resourced to help the assemblies perform their mandate.

Touching on education, the Hon. Regional Minister indicated that education is the bedrock of development and that there can be no sustainable human development without quality, inclusive and equitable education. He said the President’s vision to build Ghana beyond Aid can be achieved through providing the future generation of this country access to quality secondary education.

“These are some of the indicators that informed the bold and courageous implementation of the Free SHS programme ahead of most of our other flagship programs” he added.

Speaking on issues on sanitation, he said insanitary practices such as choked gutters, indiscriminate disposal of waste, Open Defecation sometimes due to lack of household toilets, especially in our urban areas still stares us in the face. He indicated that Sanitation, as often stated is shared, responsibility “What are we as stakeholders doing to reverse this negative attitude? he quizzed. He said assemblies must invoke the powers bestowed on them to pass and implement sanitation bye laws.

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.

He also announced that stakeholders would be consulted in collaboration with the Regional House of Chiefs and MMDCEs to look into reducing, to the barest minimum issues of land and chieftaincy disputes and other conflicts related issues.

Hon. Sulemana Alhassan called on the Forestry Commission to fight rosewood salvaging in the region. He noted that the menace was a detriment to the future generations and should be fiercely dealt with.

“We want to say that, you need to go the extra mile to support the region. We are talking about whatever inheritance we live for generations yet unborn so we would need your expertise” 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.

He made this known at the signing of the performance contracts between MDCEs and MDCDs on Monday 26^th March, 2018 at the Regional Coordinating Council. He emphasized that the activities of the District Assemblies must improve upon the lives of the people.

Hon. Chinnia noted that citizens want their conditions improved and therefore urged the District Assemblies to be innovative and creative to trigger the needed development in their respective areas.

He further urged all MDCEs and MDCDs to practice open door administration through team work, dedication, hard work, commitment and innovation.

According to him, the Local Government Service was established by the local Governance Act 936 of 2016 to secure effective administration and management of Local Government in the country. The signing of performance contract is to improve service delivery in the District Assemblies.

He therefore called on the MDCEs to release funds for the execution of the planned activities in the contract. He stressed that, they may be punitive measures for District Assemblies that fail to achieve the targets of the contract.

The Minister added that the contract has key performance areas that must be achieved and that there would be a mid – year evaluation of the contracts followed by an end of year assessment. He further added that the key performance areas are part of the mandates of the District Assemblies as contained in the Local Governance Act 936, (2016) and therefore delivery on the contract was a direct means of checking the performance of Districts. He noted that the performance contract will   ensure efficient and effective service delivery at the grassroots level.

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.

Addressing participants at the launch of the project in Wa on Thursday 5^th April, 2018, the Ag. Upper West Regional Minister Hon. Amidu Chinnia Issahaku said that smallholder farmers are the main producers of the world’s food and they will have to increase production up to 100% by 2050 if we want production to be in tandem with feeding the growing population.

He mentioned that as part of efforts aimed at creating an enabling environment for increased agricultural production and productivity, Government has subsidized fertilizer prices for farmers by half of its original market price, made available improved seeds and also initiated moves to build warehouses in every region to store produce after harvest to prevent post- harvest losses.

He added that the buffer stock company has been revived to provide ready market for farm produce.

He however appealed to the project implementers to ensure the effective participation of the rural farmers in the implementation process so that their rich experiences and know how will feed into the future of the project.

The Ag. Regional Minister cautioned that the rural farmers’ expertise should not be underestimated because they have adopted strategies to withstand all challenges and difficulties over the years. Hon. Chinnia Issahaku later commended Agro Africa and the project partners for this laudable initiative and appealed to farmers to take advantage of the benefits of this project in the Region.

On his part, the Programme Officer for Financial Inclusion for Smallholder Farmers in Africa Project (FISFAP) and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Mr. Paa Kwasi Awuku – Darko said the overall goal of FISFAP is to reduce food insecurity and increase the income of over 700,000 smallholder farmers in Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania by 2020 through enhanced access to affordable and appropriate financial and non – financial services. He mentioned that in Ghana, FISFAP will directly impact 200,000 smallholder farmers.

Mr. Darko added that mechanized ploughing has become necessary in many places under the current farming systems when animal traction is not an option. Tractor service market has quietly started to develop and tractor owners are often relatively medium and larger farmers that also provide hiring services to smallholder farmers.

Mr. Darko further added that AGRA through the MasterCard Foundation has supported Agro Africa and Tro Tro Tractor to develop a pool of 350 tractor service operators to offer hiring services for Agricultural Machinery through an innovative technology platform Tro Tro Tractor Limited for 15,000 smallholder farmers in the Upper West Region.

The Office of the Head of the  Local Government Service in collaboration with the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council had on Monday 17^th 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 Deputy Regional Minister, Hon Amidu Chinia in his address indicated that the decentralization program embarked upon in the country seeks to provide quality service to the people particularly at the local level. He said Citizenry on their part was very conscious of their right.

According to him, the Local Government Service was not the only public service organization that provides public service at the local level and that there were other public sector organizations under the constitution that equally have the mandate to also provide services to the constituents at the local level.

“These organizations have two things in common. Firstly, they are all established to provide services to the people and secondly, they derive funding from the state purse” he noted

As such, it was therefore important that the state organizations collaborate and cooperate among themselves and in turn with non-state actors to improve on service delivery.

“Inter service and sectorial collaboration and cooperation will also encourage planning and implementation of programs and projects among various services, sectors and departments both at the Regional and District levels.  Hence the need for inter-service and sectorial collaboration at the local level cannot be over emphasized” he explained

He further saluted the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service for taking the initiative to embark on the nationwide sensitization program on the need for inter-service and inter sectorial collaboration and cooperation.

The Director of Policy, Budget, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr. Gregory Ada who delivered an address on behalf of the Head of Service indicated that the inter-service and sectorial collaboration and cooperation system was developed for adoption and used by all partners on the strength of the provision in the Local Governance  Act 2016, [Act 936] section 63[4] [C] which states that “ The Head of Local Government Service shall  establish systems of effective inter-service and sectorial collaboration and cooperation between the service and other public service to harmonize local programs and avoid duplication with the approval of the council”.

“ The Local Government Service acknowledges with gratitude the collaboration and support of key stakeholders from MDAs, Public Service, Regional Coordinating Councils, MMDAs and other institutions in the development and institutionalization of this system” he explained

He noted that the expected impacts from implementing the inter-service and sectorial collaboration and cooperation system included, enhanced holistic planning, reduced institutional conflicts, judicious use of resources, improved participation, transparency and accountability in service delivery, improved local economy, poverty reduction, employment generation and general rise in household income, enhanced social cohesion, gender mainstreaming in service delivery and improved environmental conditions.

The Upper West Regional Coordinating Director, Alhaji Abdulai Abubakar on his part assured the team from the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service that practicing inter-service and sectorial collaboration and cooperation had been the hall mark for the Upper West Region for some time now and that they would continue to collaborate and network so that development would be extended.

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.

He made this call when he addressed the general house of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs meeting on Friday, March 2, 2018 at the Royal Cosy Hotel in Jirapa (popularly called Jirapa Dubai).

Hon. Amidu Chinnia in his address said the destructive floods in some parts of the country lately could be largely blamed on indiscriminate felling of tress, bad farming practices and the activities of illegal miners.

He therefore called on Chiefs and politicians who endorse the felling of rosewoods to stop as it destroys the vegetative cover and the resultant effect is the uncertain rainfall pattern we experience lately. He said care must be taken by all actors in the communities and tasked traditional authorities to stop such activities that destroy the environment.

Hon. Amidu Chinnia used the occasion to appeal to traditional leaders in the Region to help release lands for the One- Village, One- Dam project which is expected to facilitate farming in the dry season and create jobs for the youth thus reducing the migration of the youth to the South in search of non-existing jobs.

He later commended the Regional House of Chiefs for organizing an interface meeting with Municipal and District Chief Executives to discuss issues relating to the development of the region. This he said would deepen the relationship between Chiefs and the Assemblies.

On his part, the President of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs, Kuoro Richard Babini Kanton VI commended the Chief Executive Officer of Royal Cosy Hill Hotel Mr. Eric Johnson for hosting them in such a magnificent edifice and urged other well-meaning citizens of the region to emulate such examples rather than investing their resources outside the Region.

Kuoro Richard Babini however bemoaned the falling standards of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) performance in the recent past. He called on traditional authorities to periodically visit schools to motivate both teachers and pupils as a means to reverse such falling standards and improve on the performance of candidates.

He urged the District Assemblies to collaborate more with traditional leaders to develop innovative ways of partnering with the private sector to explore the opportunities in their respective areas that will create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth to propel development.

Kuoro Richard Babini Kanton pleaded with Government to scale up financial assistance given through the Medium and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) to traders, farmers, fisher folks and the entrepreneurial youth to enable them engage more in businesses that would improve economic activities in the Region.

He cautioned all and sundry to stop the indiscriminate disposal of waste in drains to avert flooding as we enter the rainy season.

Present at the general meeting were the Municipal and some District Chief Executives from the Region.

The Upper West Regional Minister Hon. Alhassan Sulemana at the first 2019 staff durbar on Thursday, 17^th 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.

The Minister commended staff for their dedication to duty over the years and charged all staff to remain committed and go the extra miles in discharging their work schedule so as to improve service delivery in the year 2019. He added that, his observation during 2018 was that, many staff were hardworking whiles others were not as committed in the discharge of their duties at work as they could have been. He advised staff to put up their best whichever level they find themselves, and always try to share ideas at work and learn best practices from each other. “Wherever you find yourself at work, always try to be the pivot point or center of the organization and share ideas with one another because wisdom is not in one person’s mind. You might think you are the only one who knows much or you are the best at work until you get closer to others to share ideas” he noted.

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 Deputy Director and Head of Central Administration, Mrs. Fati Issahaku Koray disclosed at the durbar that punctuality to work was a key area that would be monitored this year to enhance better service delivery and that officers who absent themselves from work without permission would be queried and sanctioned. She said such attitude retrogress organizational success and must be stopped. She also thanked the Regional Minister on behalf the staff for his open door policy that make him accessible to staff to address their issues.

A key challenge noted at the durbar was the lack of official vehicles for the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council. Consequently, staff of the RCC are calling on Government to as a matter of urgency come to their aid by procuring some vehicles for the RCC. It was noted that the Regional Minister and his deputy are currently using old and weak V8 Land Cruiser registered 2010, and Toyota Prado respectively making maintenance expensive.

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 late Alhaji Abdulai started his career progression as Assistant Director IIB in May 1991 and rose through the ranks in civil service to become acting Regional Coordinating Director from 2015 up till date. Alhaji Abdulai also served as an account clerk and administrative officer for Farmers Services company and Ghana Local Government service from 1983-1985 and 2010 up till date respectively.

The late Alhaji Abdulai was the Chairman of the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council Regional development strategy from 2013 to 2014 as well as Upper East Regional Coordinating Council representative on the Pwalugu multi-purpose dam project. The late  Upper West Regional Coordinating Director attended several conferences including Human capacity building programme and conference of Coordinating Director’s among several others.

The late Alhaji Abubakar Abdulai obtained his O level certificate from Kanton Secondary School in 1978 and advanced level from Navrongo Secondary School in 1980. He proceeded to University for Development Studies UDS where he obtained Master of Philosophy Degree in Development Studies in 2007 and proceeded with his PHD in Endogenous Development from the same University.

The experienced administrator has served as Coordinating director for then Garu-Tempane District Assembly, Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly.

He was later appointed as the AG Regional Coordinating Director of the Upper East Regional Coordinating council. In July 2017, Mr Abdulai Abubakari accepted  posting to the Upper West Region where he comes from to head the Region as the Regional Coordinating Director. He served the Region diligently in making upper west region a better place until his untimely demise. Alhaji Abdulai Abubakari was a hard working and liberal administrator who believed in delegation and team work in getting good results at work.

Head of Local Government Service Dr  Engineer  Nana Atto Author and various Chief Directors/RCDs across the country were present at the final funeral rite of late Alhaji Abdulai Abubakari in Wa.

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.

He left behind a wife and four(4) children. May the good Lord grant him a peaceful rest. Rest well Sir .

The Upper West Regional Minister, Hon. Alhaji Alhassan Sulemana has revealed that plans are far advanced for the government to build an agricultural college in Vieri, in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region.  He said, the project which will start this year, would not only facilitate development in the area, but would also help provide agricultural training to the people in the district, region and the country at large.  The Regional Minster revealed this on Monday, at Vieri, during the Seontaa Boor Festival of the Daga-wiile community in and around Vieri.

The festival which was the second of its kind was aimed at promoting the culture of Daga-wiile community as well as the development of the area.  Alhaji Sulemana noted that the government was committed to developing the agricultural sector of the nation’s economy hence the need to develop the technical know-how of the people in the area of agriculture.  The government is also coming into partnership with a technical firm in Agric and I am happy to announce that Vieri is going to get an Agric college this year the minister said.

Hon. Sulemana also identified some major road networks to commence by February 1, this year.  Others, he identified included:  Ga-Wachiau-Dorimon-Wa Road, Wechiau-Balawa road all in the Wa West District.  The Regional Minister also touched on some government policies including: the Planting for Food and Jobs, One-Village, One-Dam, Free Senior High School and the impending Rearing for Food and Jobs, which is geared towards fostering national development.  Hon. Sulemana, therefore urged the people to support the government in the implementation of its programmes and policies; to transform the economy of the nation for the betterment of all.

In a message on his behalf, the Member of Parliament (MP), Wa West Constituency, Hon. Joseph Yiele Chireh urged the people of the Daga-WiIle community to uphold the festival to serve as a medium of cultural transition from the older to the younger generation.  He also cautioned the youth against alcoholism and hard drugs, which he said were inimical to their health and appealed to the people to sign onto the National Health Insurance Scheme to help reduce their cost to accessing to quality health care in the country.

Some students in the area who participated in quiz and debate competitions were awarded with text books and other educational materials for their performance in the exercise, while other people and groups who participated in other activities including dancing and craft were also awarded.

The Upper West Regional Minister, Hon Alhaji Sulemana Alhassan in his interaction with the media during a site inspection of a One Thousand-Metric-Tonne Capacity Warehouse on Monday, 21^st January, 2019 at Bulenga in the Wa East district, revealed that with the right technical know-how provided to farmers in the region, there will be enough produce from farmers to feed the region and other parts of the country.

The Minister during the inspection of the project, described Wa East District as one of the major food baskets in the region and asked the consultant of the project to speed up with work in order to meet the deadline for completion of the project by March 2019.  He indicated that even though there was enough produce, the major challenge confronting farmers in the region was how to preserve what has been produced to prevent post-harvest losses. He added that, the project when completed will serve as a storage facility in preserving food produced by farmers and would also motivate them to produce more since post-harvest losses would have been reduced considerably.

According to him the second year of the Planting for Food and Jobs Program received a significant increase in the number of beneficiaries. As such, there is food in abundance in the region. The provision of a warehouse in the region is therefore apt and timely. “We all know His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana’s vision of building Ghana beyond aid requires progress in all spheres of our lives as a people. If we all contribute our quota greatly within the next few years, Ghana would be a food basket for the whole of Africa and beyond and make us food self-sufficient”, he noted.

Hon. Sulemana described as very satisfactory, the recovery of debts owed the state by farmers under the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) program in the Region. He said, with an average of about sixty five percent (65%) of debt recovered from farmers, the region is well positioned to give more inputs since they are assured of repayment of credit facilities offered to farmers. He however cautioned all defaulting farmers in the various districts to settle their debts to ensure the continuance of the program.

He disclosed that government sanctioned an audit into the activities of the various Municipal and District Chief Executives along with their Directors of Agriculture to ensure that all the inputs were put to judicious use. He said the completed report would be made available to the public to ensure transparency and accountability on the part of government.

Similarly, the Upper West Regional Director of Agriculture, Mr Emmanuel Sasu Yeboah speaking to the media said, efforts were being made to ensure that farmers pay back the inputs supplied under the Planting for Food and Jobs Program. He encouraged all defaulting farmers to pay their debts for the program to continue.

On the region’s food security, Mr Sasu Emmanuel indicated that he was very confident that with the abundance of food in the region, the region in a few years to come, will start supplying the neighboring countries like Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast with food. He said Upper West Region used to be a region with food shortages but since the introduction of the Planting for Food and Jobs Program two years ago, the story had changed and there is no longer food shortages in upper West Region.

The One Thousand Metric Tonnes Warehouse project under construction at Bulenga in the Wa East District is expected to be completed in March, 2019. Another warehouse that the Hon. Regional Minister and his entourage visited was that of Antika Company Ltd where over one thousand bags of maize were stored. The company also employed over hundred women for processing the farm produce for storage in the warehouse. 

Mr Antika took the Regional Minister round his company and commended him for the visit to have an insight of what is happening in his company. Additionally, Mr Antika who is a beneficiary of the Planting for Food and Jobs Program, commended government for the initiative and explained with joy how the program has boosted his company.