Upper East Regional Minister is enjoy meetings while region is left out of development projects — Abonenga

Social commentator and activist Abonenga Joseph Aguyire has criticised the Upper East Regional Minister over what he describes as the region’s lack of significant development projects nearly two years into the current administration.

Mr Aguyire said the Upper East Region was being left behind as major development projects were announced, implemented and commissioned in other parts of the country.

He questioned the absence of any landmark, transformational or monumental project in the region despite repeated assurances that Ghana had become a “construction site”.

“There is no landmark project currently in the region. There is no transformational project currently in the region. There is no monumental project currently in the region,” he lamented.

Mr Aguyire said the situation was particularly worrying given the region’s longstanding developmental challenges, which he said required major investments in infrastructure, employment, healthcare, roads and other critical sectors.

He also expressed concern over the Upper East Region’s exclusion from the Ghana Market Access and Connectivity Project, a World Bank-backed initiative covering 13 regions, describing it as another indication of the region’s inability to attract major national interventions.

According to him, the responsibilities of a Regional Minister go beyond coordinating meetings, government programmes and administrative activities.

He said the minister must serve as the region’s strongest advocate at the national level by lobbying government, pushing for projects and ensuring that the developmental needs of residents receive priority.

“A Regional Minister cannot merely be a coordinator of meetings and government programmes. He must be the region’s strongest advocate at the national level,” he said.

Mr Aguyire maintained that the Regional Minister must “lobby, push, demand and fight” for projects and investments capable of transforming the lives of residents.

He said the period of patience and goodwill towards the administration was gradually giving way to frustration among residents who continued to see other regions benefit from major development projects.

“The honeymoon is over,” Mr Aguyire declared.

He therefore challenged the Regional Minister to intensify efforts to attract meaningful development to the region, insisting that the situation required urgent action and results-oriented leadership.

Mr Aguyire said the minister must either “sit up and deliver” or consider stepping aside if he was unable to effectively champion the interests of the Upper East Region.

He warned that continued inaction could deepen public frustration, particularly among residents who felt the region was being left on the sidelines of Ghana’s development agenda.

“Enough of the honeymoon. Upper East deserves effective, results-oriented leadership, not leadership that simply enjoys meetings,” he stressed.