Akufo-Addo ends 3-days tour of Northern Region

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Monday, 23rd July, 2018, ended his 3-day tour of the Northern Region, with visits to Tamale, Buipe, and Damongo.

As part of activities climaxing the President visit to the Northern Region, he visited the newly refurbished Motorking Assembly Plant in Tamale, where he, amongst others, commissioned the facility and urged private sector actors to invest in the country’s manufacturing sector.

“My presence here, and that of the Minister of Trade, is to signal the support and commitment of Ghana and of the government to investments such as these,” he said.

He continued, “They are investments that will impact the transformation of our economy, and that is the major objective of economic policy in our time, that we begin to transform the Ghanaian economy from being a raw material producing and exporting economy to an industrial economy that will be able to create jobs and generate higher incomes for our people.”

At Buipe, President Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the construction of an 80-bed District Hospital, which will specialize in accident and emergency care.

With the hospital expected to be completed in 36 months, the President said that hospital will provide access to healthcare for the people of Central Gonja and its environs, as well as to commuters along the Trans-Africa highway in the event of accidents and emergencies.

Speaking at the Palace of the Overlord of Gonjaland, the Yagbonwura, Tuntumba Boresa I, the President thanked him, together with the other Eminent Chiefs, for the work being done to bring finality to the Dagbon conflict.

He stressed that “I am not a Dagomba. I cannot be Abudu or Andani. I cannot be. I am from somewhere a long way away from Akyem Abuakwa in Kyebi, so I am not Abudu and I am not Andani. All my interest is for the two groups to come together, restore peace in Dagbon so that there can be peace all over the Northern Region and in the northern parts of our country.”

On the creation of the proposed Savannah Region, the President told the Yagbonwura that on Thursday, 19th July, 2018, prior to his week-long tour of the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions, he forwarded the recommendations of the Justice Brobbey Commission to the Electoral Commission, in accordance with the teachings of the Constitution.

The President reiterated that, as per the requirements of the Constitution, at least, 50% of the persons entitled to vote must vote in each of the different referenda, and, of the votes cast, at least 80% must be cast in favour of the creation of the Savannah region for the demand to succeed.

With the Programme for Food and Jobs in its second year of implementation, the President indicated that the number of beneficiary farmers, who have been given improved seedligs, subsidized fertilizer, and access to extension officers, has been increased from two hundred thousand farmers in 2017 to five hundred thousand in 2018.

The 1-village-1-dam policy, he added, is being implemented in the three Northern Regions to ensure all-year round farming. This, he said, has resulted in the ongoing construction of 570 dams in the three Northern Regions in 2018.

President Akufo-Addo will from Tuesday, 24th July, 2018, embark on a 2-day tour of the Upper West Region.