CSOs Of SADA Zone Meets President Mahama On SADA

The Coalition of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority Zone Civil Society Organizations (SADA Zone –CSOs), during the Accounting to the People Tour of President John Dramani to the Upper East Region , held a meeting with him on how to make SADA work effectively.

The meeting which was held at the residency of the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council appealed to the President to ensure that government allocated adequate resources to SADA for its effective operations.

The meeting further petitioned the President to facilitate the introduction of levies on non–petroleum imports as required by section 18 of the SADA Act 805 of 2010 to fund SADA.

The Petition signed by the Executive Secretary of the Coalition, Mr Bismark Adongo Ayorogo, pointed out that, since 2012, the Authority had not received funds from the government for any capital project.

This he explained “contravenes the SADA Act 805 of 2010 which enjoins government to make annual budgetary allocations to SADA”, the Petitioners stated.

The petition also indicated that six years after the passage of the law to tax non–petroleum imports to help ensure sustainable funding for the Authority, it was yet to be implemented.

Whilst commending the President and the government for taking bold steps to restructure and revamp SADA, the CSOs stated that government’s commitment to sustainably fund SADA would help it deliver effective services for the total transformation of the Northern Savannah Ecological areas.

Responding to the petition, the President told the group that Government was committed to SADA and was doing everything possible to ensure its effective operations. He explained that restructuring the Authority and putting in place new management board attested to this fact.

In related development, another group known as “Gurune Language Development Association”, met the President and impressed upon him to ensure that the “Gurune” Language became examinable at both the Junior and Senior High Schools.

They argued that the “Gurune” Language apart from being taught in basic schools at the six Districts of the Region, a number of teachers had been trained at the University of Education, Winneba, to teach the subject.