Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has criticised the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government for failing to bring any meaningful development to the northern part of Ghana through the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), a programme aimed at accelerating the development of the north.

Speaking in Binduri in the Upper East Region as part of his campaign tour yesterday, Dr. Bawumia noted that SADA could not even bring projects such as toilet facilities to the people of the north.

“Not even a toilet was built under that project—the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority project,” he said.

He added that well-publicized programmes under the SADA initiative, such as the rearing of guinea fowls, failed because the birds supposedly flew to Burkina Faso.

The Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) was an independent agency for coordinating a comprehensive development agenda for the northern savannah ecological zone in Ghana. The area comprised the then three Northern regions of Ghana, namely Upper East, Upper West, and the Northern Region, and stretched to include districts contiguous to the Northern Region.

SADA constituted Ghana’s response to the effects of climate change associated with floods and drought.

The agency’s main thrust was to promote sustainable development using the notion of a forested and green north to catalyze climate change reversal and improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable citizens in the area.

Sadly, the programme was mired in corruption, resulting in its inability to deliver on its mandate. In 2017, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) replaced SADA with the Northern Development Authority (NDA).