The Office of the Commandant of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), one of the prestigious peacekeeping training centres in the West African sub-region has congratulated the Minister for Inner Cities and Zongo Development on his assumption as the Minister of State and Member of Parliament.

The centre in a letter dated February 13, signed by Air vice Marshal G.S Evans, and copied the Minister headlined ‘Letter of Congratulations’.

The letter said the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Training Centre presents its warmest compliments to Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface , Minister for Inner Cities and Zongo Development.

The letters further stated that the centre monitored with pride ‘your nomination by the president His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana to serve as the first Minister of Zongo Development and Inner Cities’.

The statement explained that as an Alumni of KAIPTC’s Masters Course in conflict, Peace and Security, we are indeed proud to be associated with you and wish to use this opportunity to also congratulate you on winning the Parliamentary seat for Madina Constituency in the Greater Accra region.

“We have no doubt that your passion, passion, desire and zeal will make you deliver as expected. Please extend our compliments and regards to your family as well for their continued support to you. Kindly accept assurances of our highest esteem and consideration and be assured of our continued support.”



Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, is reported to have told people in Zongo communities that he did not enter the race for the Madina seat for his selfish gains, but for the good of the community that has been neglected over the years.

“If it was for my personal gains, I should be relaxing somewhere with my wife and children, because I have attained the height every young man desires in politics and life.

In my career as a politician, I have handled five Ministries and ended as a full fledge Cabinet member in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration under the able-leadership of ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor,’’ the Minister said.

According to him, he started as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, when Kofi Konadu Apraku was the substantive Minister, he later moved to the Ministry of Tourism and Beautification of the Capital City under ex-National Chairman of NPP, Jake Obetsebi- lamptey as Deputy Minister.

He was later appointed the Regional Minister for Northern Region; where he assisted in the organization of the burial of the late Overlord of Yendi, Ya-na Yakubu Adani II, before President Kufuor, saw the good traits in him and made him the Minister for Manpower and Youth Development, where he introduced the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) that employed a large number of the teeming youth in the country.

He has always expressed his gratitude to ex- President Kufuor, for seeing the good in him, when he made him the Minister for water Resources, Works and Housing at the tail end of his administration in 2008.

‘’I am not in the race for the Landcruiser vehicle that will be made available to me, if I win the 2016 parliamentary election, I have seen it all.

He stressed that, he had lived in Madina for the past thirty years and has realized the fortunes of the area kept dwindling as compared to some of the newly created Assemblies in the region.

It is against this backdrop that he took the decision to contest to better the lots of the community he raised his children in,” I have done it before as the Member of Parliament for Salaga Constituency in the Northern Region”.

“I know majority of you have heard of me, but have not seen me personally, since I was elected on June 13, 2015.”

He appealed to the Madina to see politics as a mere contest of ideas and policies and not an avenue for intra-fighting.

He said, politics was not about personalities in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP), but about how the lots of the electorate in the community can be bettered.

He said, the Zongo communities across the country are lagging behind in terms of development as compared to other communities, yet when people are needed to engage in violence, the youth in these communities are the first to be called upon.