There is a seeming dark cloud hanging over the success of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) as some unseen but combative hands surreptitiously work under the cover of darkness to derail the noble vision of the development Authority.

The modus operandi of these people, who many patriotic citizens within the catchment area of SADA have described as “nation wreckers”, is to create splinter youth groups overnight and hold parallel press conferences to downgrade the personal efforts of the Chief Executive Officer of SADA, Alhaji Gilbert Iddi.

Not only do these hired groups attack the personality of the CEO, but all manner of accusations of impropriety are levelled against him. The people at times resort to leaving of some documents in the offices of some selected media houses ostensibly to indict the Alhaji Iddi. The documents normally come attached with three telephone numbers of three different mobile phone networks, but none is ever active if one cared to cross-check the veracity of the claims.

Over the last couple of weeks, five youth groups in the Northern Region have made their views on SADA known with four of them condemning Alhaji Iddi with only one coming to the defence of SADA. Interestingly, only one of the five groups which attacked him is now visible as the rest have escaped into oblivion.

Those groups, which can no more be traced, are Friends of the Success of SADA (FS-SADA), Youth For Northern Development Now (YNDN), Concerned Youth of the Savannah(SAS), and Youth For Northern Peace(YNP). The group, which is now seen as a lone ranger in the ‘operation sack SADA Boss’, is the Coalition of Youth Associations in Northern Ghana (CYANG). The battle is now between Coalition of Youth Associations in Northern Ghana and the Northern Youth for Peace and Community Development (NYPCD).

That attitude has left many persons in the Northern Region to wonder what could be the motive behind such malicious enterprise to see the back of Alhaji Iddi as the SADA CEO. According to them it would not be in the best interest of persons within the SADA catchment area if the turf war continued.

“We are tired of these groups springing up on a daily basis to denigrate the CEO for President Mahama to replace him. In fact, the president knows more than all these groups, and so we will be very surprised if the president will act to appease these mushroom youth groups”, stated some of the opinion leaders in an interaction with The New Crusading GUIDE over the weekend.

According to them, such unsubstantiated allegations against the CEO had the potential to cause unsettle Alhaji Iddi which would have a telling effect on the fortunes of SADA.

It would be recalled that the Coalition of Youth Associations in Northern Ghana last week demanded the immediate removal of Alhaji Gilbert Iddi, for alleged acts of corruption and mismanagement.

At a press conference addressed by the spokesperson of the coalition, Mr Basharu Alhassan Daballi in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, the coalition accused Alhaji Iddi of profligate spending and wanton dissipation of SADA resources.

But in a swift response, the Northern Youth for Peace and Community Development (NYPCD), also called on all citizens of the north to see the management of the SADA as a collective responsibility.

It observed with concern the continuous calls for removal by certain groups from the Northern Region.

The Parliament of Ghana in July 2010 passed into law, the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) bill which was seen as an affirmative action to seal the development vacuum between the south and the north.

The 20-year strategy seeks to generate accelerated development in the savannah (three northern regions and parts of the Volta and Brong Ahafo Regions) to reduce poverty and to generate growth.

The late President John Evans Atta Mills, in 2011, appointed Alhaji Iddi, a successful Agriculturalist and Politician, as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).

The former President made the appointment on the advice of the SADA Governing Board and upon the recommendation of the Public Services Commission after he excelled in a competitive interview.