“SADA is not a Father Christmas programme”- President Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama said on Tuesday that the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) programme is not a “father Christmas” to supply free goods and services.

“All the people in the SADA ecological zone need to get deeply involved in the programme in order to reap the full benefit from its implementation", said the President when he inaugurated a Millennium Village Project in Silinga in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region.

The project, which would be completed in five years time, is expected to cost 11.5 million pounds and benefit 30,000 people in the SADA catchment area. It is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom.

This total also includes 2 million Pounds Sterling designated for monitoring and evaluation of the project and for technical support.

At the launch were Mr. Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development and Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute and Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The President commended the government of the United Kingdom for its tremendous support towards the implementation of the SADA programme.

“The U.K. government has been instrumental in the implementation of the SADA programme and we shall continue to collaborate for a more successful programme,” President Mahama said, and appealed to the beneficiary communities of the project to take advantage of the SADA to better their lot.

“SADA is covering a whole range of issues and I implore all of you to take advantage to benefit from those projects,” he stressed.

He said thousands of farmers had been assisted with farm inputs and other logistics to increase their yield, while many tractors had already been given to farmers adding that 150 tractors would be made available to them in the coming year to increase their yield from two hectares to six hectares.

Mr. Mahama said 15 communities in each of the districts in the Northern Region were going to be connected to the national grid to have access to electricity, while numerous road projects had been earmark for construction to link the cities to farming communities.

Both Mr. Andrew Mitchell and Professor Jeffrey Sachs promised the UK's continuous assistance to the country and urged the people of Ghana to ensure that they delivered quality projects for the MVP.

Alhaji Gilbert Seidu Iddi, Chief Executive Officer for SADA who spoke to the GNA said his outfit had already undertaken numerous developmental projects to bridge the North-South development gap and stressed the need for continuous monitoring and evaluation of the project to yield the results.

He said its successes will be up-scaled for SADA to continue to provide institutional arrangement for monitoring and making interventions that would improve the standard of living of the people.