Classifying regions of the north as one is a lazy practice - Eastwood Anaba

Reverend Eastwood Anaba, founder of Eastwood Anaba Ministries has described the classification of the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions as one as a lazy way of doing things indicating that three regions are distinct in nature and have different development needs.

He disclosed that what may be a priority to the other may not and therefore wants an end to the practice of stakeholders and policymakers referring to them as ‘three regions of the north or three northern regions’

“The three regions have different potentials and characteristics which must be identified and dealt with separately with the best of approach to enhance their development”, he advised.

Reverend Anaba observed that this practice is stifling the development of these regions and the earlier the trend is halted the better for the development needs of those areas calling on journalists who hail from these regions to help reverse this trend.

Speaking at the 2nd media festival organized by The Press Foundation, TPF in Bolgatanga he said:”I believe what our journalists can do to help us is to help us identify, specify and occupy the Upper East region, the Upper West region and the Northern region. Journalists should champion the cause of identifying these regions as separate regions, requiring different developmental approaches. The second thing we need to be able to develop is what I would call defiance. Defiance is a major step to development.

We have a gravitational force like depending on others to develop us. We can’t sit in the Upper East region and say we need some of the oil money. What about the granite money? If you go to Bongo, where Honourable Manasseh comes from, children climb these beautiful rocks and use them for open defecation. We defecate on our rocks and we are [asking] God for somebody’s oil to come to us. We should be aggressive, passionate and angry enough to develop this place,” Rev. Anaba told the gathering.

He explained that putting the regions together as one is partly to blame for the underdevelopment questioning where are the three regions of the south or western regions and Eastern.

In his view, the lazy classification is a way by which policymakers have over the period adapted to ignore the areas which is why these places continue to be poor.

“If you move around Ghana, whether is the media, educationists, politicians…You would realize that there is an expression which doesn’t exist but we have used it so often that it has become a reality. That expression is ‘The three regions of the north’, the northern territory; the upper regions; the northern regions; I have asked Presidents of this country, I have asked educationists and I have asked politicians where are the three southern regions? Where are the two eastern regions? Where are the two western regions? So why the three northern regions? So definitely, it is a certain form of classification to find a way of classifying you just to ignore you” he said.