Embrace peace or forget development – Dery

The Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, has entreated feuding factions in the intra-ethnic chieftaincy clashes in Bimbilla that claimed 13 lives and rendered many homeless to immediately embrace peace or risk being engulfed in poverty.

He said the government will be forced to spend the monies earmarked for development into maintaining law and order in the area.

The Akufo-Addo government, said Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has estimated GHc456.3million to roll out its much talked about one-district-one-factory policy which will create about 350,000 jobs.

Also, he disclosed that a budget of GHc94.5million had been set aside for the one-village-one-dam project in the three Northern regions.

These allocations, according to government will ensure the country’s industrialization drive spreads to every part of the country as opposed to the hitherto situation where the vast majority of manufacturing facilities are located in the five largest urban areas, namely; Accra, Tema, Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale.

Mr. Dery cautioned that development will elude Bimbilla if feuding factions in the area refuse to embrace peace.

“What is going to happen is that the $1 million that is going to go to Bimbilla is going to be spent in solving the problems of Bimbilla and providing the one-district-one-factory, one-village-one dam…we are going to end up using that money to support boots on the ground and it is not going to augur well for the development of Bimbilla,” he told Francis Abban, host of the show.

He thus called for concerted efforts by all and sundry in Bimbilla to allow peace to prevail.

In a related development, he denied that the chaos being witnessed in the area recently is politically motivated.

“So Bimbilla is united in our eyes…no side are being supported by the government and the NPP for that matter and I’m not aware that any other party is supporting any other side.

As far as I know…I have shown you that the deployment has been across board…both sides…both gates, so as far as I know we are dealing with Bimbilla as a unit and we are solving the problem and protecting Bimbilla as a unit and we do not see…and should anybody have those ideas let us eliminate that. Ghana is bigger than the political parties,” Mr. Dery said.