Upper West Rural Banks commended for contributing to development

Nandom (U/W), Oct. 31, GNA – The four Rural Banks in the Upper West Region, namely the Nandom Rural Bank, Sonzele Rural Bank, Sissala Rural Bank and the Lawra Rural Bank have been commended for their great contribution towards the development of the Region.

Alhaji Issahaku Saliah, Upper West Regional Minister gave the commendation during the 2011 Rural Banking Week celebration at Nandom in the newly created Nandom District.

It was on the theme: “One Body, Many Parts, sharing Resources Together”.

He said it was wonderful to note that the Banks had within a short period mobilized a total of GH¢ 9.9 million and granted about GH¢ 3.00 million as loans and advances to people to either start or develop their businesses.

The Regional Minister was impressed by the performance of the banks, especially in financing agricultural production, small scale industries, provision of houses, payment of school fees and health bills.

He said many small scale entrepreneurs would not have been able to go through the rigorous demands of the commercial banks to access loans to start or develop their businesses.

Alhaji Saliah said Government would continue to create the necessary socio-economic environment to enable Rural Banks to offer the much needed services to the people.

He, therefore, admonished the Management of these Rural Banks to focus the 2011 Rural Banking Week celebrations on removing the bottlenecks that were hampering their operations in order to reposition themselves to become more effective to deliver better services to the people.

Mr. Charles K. Gyang, President of the North-Western Chapter of the Association of Rural Banks – Ghana, appealed to the Minister to support the opening of Rural Banks in districts without Rural Banks as that was one of the major ways of helping the people.

He also urged Directors of Rural Banks to be conscious about image building since it was one of the fundamental ways they could succeed.

Mr. Gyang also admonished all staff to base their conduct on two main things - integrity and delivering of quality services.

Mr. Peter K. Latuo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nandom Rural Bank said the celebration of the day presented them with an opportunity to share ideas and work together as one body committed to achieving the same set targets and goals.

GNA