Northern MPs and Politicians called to address poverty

Sandema (U/E) Oct 24, GNA- The Member of Parliament (MP) for Builsa North, Mrs Agnes Chigabatia has urged MPs and Politicians in the three Northern Regions to eschew political and ethnic differences and form a formidable group with a common goal to map out strategies for the total development of the area.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Sandema, Mrs. Chigabatia explained that this was the only way poverty, which was highly endemic in the three regions, would be minimized if not eradicated.

According to the MP, it was true that the three Northern regions were the most poverty-prone in the country as a result of the policies of the British colonial government. There was, therefore, the need for all Northern MPs and Politicians to come out with a pragmatic and result-oriented strategy to help redress the poverty problem once and for all.

Mrs Chigabatia said there were a lot of economic potential in the North, which were not fully tapped, and mentioned tomatoes, rice, sheanut, yam, and fish farming as well as animal husbandry. She stressed that if these natural resources were fully and properly tapped, it would reduce poverty in the areas and improve upon the living conditions of the people.

Mrs. Chigabatia repeated the call for the revamping of the tomato and meat factories at Pwalugu and Zuarungu near Bolgatanga, and also the rice mills in Tamale and Bolgatanga.

Mrs. Chigabatia also called for the creation of more irrigation dams in the regions. This, the MP noted, would generate employment and income for the upkeep of the people thereby reducing poverty in the areas.

She announced that as part of her contribution, She intended encouragimg serious sheanut farming in the regions. According to her, she would empower community members through capacity building and funding to go into sheanut farming. Shea butter, she noted, would be exported for foreign exchange, adding that it would also generate employment and reduce poverty in the regions. The MP further enjoined well-to-do Northern businessmen and women both in the country and outside to also endeavour to contribute their quota to the alleviation of poverty in the North. She emphasised that it was only when Northerners take their destiny into their own hands by tackling poverty issues in the Northern regions, that the government would also play more complementary role in alleviating poverty in the area.