Conflict, the setback of our Regional Development Agenda - Minister

Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, Northern Regional Minister, has said the minimal level of development in the region was due to conflicts in the area.

He said the Chieftaincy, Land, Intra-Religious and Political conflicts in the region, hindered the developmental goals of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC).

“Conflicts distract the attention of investors, takes much resources of government and sets back development projects.”

Alhaji Limuna made these remarks in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, after the signing of a service performance contract with the 10 Regional Ministers and Co-ordinating Directors on Friday.

The performance which would be accessed by six thematic areas, is the basis of achieving Ghana’s developmental goals and improving livelihood at the local level.

The thematic areas include the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) priority areas, Performance reporting, Financial management, Human Resource management, Customer service initiatives and Work environmental improvement initiatives.

He said the problems associated with the chieftaincy issues was the lack of documented succession plans, which were broadly aligned with land disputes, as most chiefs claimed lands which were not part of their jurisdictions.

Alhaji Limuna also explained that the level of co-operation of the citizenry was very minimal in the understanding of the administrative duties of the RCC, and associated it to the unjustifiable demands of resources by individuals and groups in the region.

He said, even though there were some associated problems with the region, infrastructure development was the key priority of the RCC.

The Regional Minister mentioned the upgrading of the Tamale old and Aboabo markets, the upgrading of the Tamale Teaching Hospital, the Eastern Corridor Roads, the Affordable Housing Project at Lahagu, a suburb of Tamale, and the upgrading of the Tamale Airport to an International status, as some major on-going projects in the region.

He said the size and the cosmopolitan nature of the region was also a challenge in terms of development, and that it was a difficult task leaving the region to come to Accra, the seat of Government, to lobby for projects.

Touching on the performance contract, Alhaji Limuna said the initiative would help the RCC to step-up the role in monitoring, co-coordinating and evaluating the work of the MMDAs. and other agencies, which was their core mandate, with regional ministers as the supervisors’.

He said: “it will also make us look focused, by putting in place high productive measures to achieve results in development.”