Bolgatanga, Jan. 6, GNA - Mr. Mark Woyongo, the Upper East Regional Minister, has appealed to the leadership of the association of citizens fro= m Bolgatanga, Nabdam Bongo and Tongo (BONABOTO) traditional areas to impress upon traditional rulers and land owners in the Region to release land for development. Mr Woyong, who spoke at BONABOTO National Delegates Congress, said som= e traditional rulers in the Region were not prepared to release land for development and this was affecting the execution of projects. He cited instances where the Regional Coordinating Council, the Municipal and District assemblies had to battle with traditional rulers and land owners for the release of land for projects. "I want to task you as the leadership of BONABOTO to engage with traditional authorities and land owners to always compromise and allow developments to take place while pursuing the compensation due them," Mr Woyongo said. "As most of you are no doubt aware, government business normally takes some time because of the processes involved. I therefore wish to assure all landowners not to be afraid of being denied compensation due them for any parcel of land taken from them for development purposes". He said the implementation of the Savannah Accelerated Development (SADA= ) would face a Herculean challenge if traditional leaders and land owners continued to refuse to release land. Whilst commending BONABOT for complementing governments in development especially with the establishment of an education endowment fund, he advise= d them to be circumspect in their dealings especially on issues related to ethnicity.

The Minister said they should work towards eradicating the common enemies such as poverty, disease and ignorance which is endemic in the Region. The National President of BONABOTO, Mr. Mathew Adombire, appealed to th= e government to ensure that adequate and sustainable funding was sourced for the successful implementation of SADA. He appealed to government to ensure that the headquarters of SADA was set up in one of the three Northern Regions. Mr Adombire said the government should continue with the construction of the Sumbrungo Airport and not to abandon it and move it elsewhere as being speculated. He said the Association was not happy about the closure of some Senior High Schools in the Region especially Gowrie SSS and called on the authorities to intervene to solve the problem. Mr. Adombire said through the educational endowment fund 17 boys and 10 girls have been sponsored with 12,419.00 Ghana cedis and would continue to support needy and brilliant students.