As President Nana Akufo-Addo begins his tour of the Northern Region today, Saturday, July 21, the opposition National Democratic Party in Walewale, Nalerigu -Gambaga, Yagaba-Kubori, Bunkprugu and Yunyoo constituencies in the Mampruguland has touted the “solid and massive infrastructural Development” brought to the area by erstwhile John Mahama administration, cautioning the president not to pass off those projects as his.

The party listed a number of projects built by the John Mahama government– from roads, electricity to building of health centers in the area and claimed president Akufo-Addo has deliberately halted the completion of those projects just to come and cut sod for the projects in order to take political credit.

“The tarring of the Walewale–Wungu road, which, as we speak, has been abandoned and this road fortunately happens to be leading to the hometown of the MP for Walewale and Deputy minister for Agric, Dr. Sagre Banbangi. Roads constructions were also ongoing from Yagaba to link mankanrigu and its environs in the North Gonja District, from Yezisi junction to Soombisi in the Upper West Region, construction of the mighty bridge over the Tuvuu River and Gole vallies that used to claim so many lives in the area as a result of its poor nature. Ladies and gentlemen, all the above mentioned road projects have come to a halt due to the fact the current government has deliberately refused to pay the constructors to continue these projects”

Added to these, the previous government said they successfully started the construction and upgrading of all the Walewale township roads such as the Tampulingu–Bokuduri stretch, the Zangum junction–Tampulingu road, the Kperiga road and many more”

“Ladies and gentlemen, the press, the Nalerigu township roads that were started under Ex-president Mahama’s administration was halted only for the contractor to be compelled to come to site when it was announced that the president of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was visiting the Mamprugu Traditional area.

“However, ladies and gentlemen, we wish to appreciate the Honourable Minister for Local Government and Rural Development and MP for Nalerigu–Gambaga Constituency, Hajia Alima Mahama for urgently fixing the bridge on Nalerigu–Nakpanduri road when it collapsed, making movement difficult for the people that ply on this road”, the party Walewale constituency communication officer, Imoro Abdul Razak who read a statement in the joint news conference in Walewale said.

The NDC is also accusing the president of failing to deliver on promises he made to the people of the Mamprugu land during his tour when he came to thank the chiefs and people for electing him. They slammed the vice president Dr. Bawumia for abandoning his own kinsmen.

“The president of the republic and his vice president promised at the Nayiri’s Palace, not once or twice of the construction of the Nalerigu–Gbintiri road, the press, as we talk, nothing has been done on that road, yet Gbintiri market generates a lot of Internally Generated Funds (I G F) for the East Mamprusi Municipal Assembly”.

“On Education: ladies and gentlemen, the Namong Senior High in the Yunyoo–Nasuan District, the only Senior High in the district which was about 60% complete, has been left to rot under the mercy of the bush. This school, if completed would accommodate thousands of students from across the district to ease the pressure of seeking Secondary education elsewhere. In addition to these ladies and gentlemen, there are still many communities including Nambonsu, komia, kolig and many more still without schools. Other equally important projects are the abandonment of the Langbinsi and Nasia Community day Senior High Schools.”

Imoro Abdul Razak said it was important for the president to complete the uncompleted projects by the erstwhile John Mahama government. He also reminded the president about the promises he made to the people of the Mamprugu Traditional Area and called on him to fulfil them as soon as possible.

“The Walewale municipality and the East Mamprusi Municipality indeed also had their fair share of projects regarding infrastructural investments in the health sector, some of this includes the upgrading of the Wulugu healthcentre, three completed CHPS compounds but not functional, five clinics and a lot more. Rural electrification; over seventeen communities were hooked onto the national grid by the erstwhile government and more than ten communities had their works at various stages of completion and Yama is a case in point. In Yagaba over fifteen communities have been connected to the national grid and many more were at various stages of completions but have been abandoned by the current government”

“Ladies and gentlemen of the press, five communities in Yunyoo/Nasuan district have been hooked on to the national grid and many more other communities awarded for execution but for the change of government, citizens of these communities still languish in darkness. In the East Mamprusi municipality over twenty-five communities were hooked onto the National grid but as we speak, the Municipality languishes in perpetual darkness as a result of frequent outages which the VRA has no clue of, and therefore needs the attention of the president”, the joint statement stated.

The Party called on the president to pay contractors and said the Mamprugu land has not benefited from his one village one dam policy.

“We have taken note of the president’s visit and its accompanying funfair activities of sod cutting and inspection of ongoing projects. In light of that, we are appealing to the president as a matter of necessity pay contractors working on the other equally important roads stated in this release for work to be completed. Mr. president, whilst you cut sod for the “construction of the Nasia/Janga road, which is dear to our hearts, we wish to remind you to redeem your promise regarding the construction of the Sakogu/Bunkurugu road, Bunkurugu through Yunyoo, the District capital, Namong, Tuna and Kulgona road which serves as a major road to the Baptist Medical Centre in Nalerigu. This, if constructed would save the lives of our innocent pregnant women. We wish also to remind you to look at the Nalerigu/Gbintiri road which is the major road for the carriage of food items to all other parts of the East Mamprusi Municipality”

“Ladies and gentlemen, so much has been said about the president’s much touted and fancied one village, one dam, one this, one that, except with the one minister, several deputies. We in Mamprugu are yet to see these materialize, although NPP communicators are claiming it has started. As we speak, the five districts in Mamprugu have over five hundred communities and yet none of the so call dams can be sighted in any of them. We are therefore reminding our brother the vice president Dr. Bawumia not to forget us. We equally want to tell our brother that we need dams and not dugouts”, the party demanded.