Lawra (U/W), Aug. 12, GNA - Alhaji Issahaku Salia, the Upper West Regional Minister, has assured chiefs and their traditional councils of his readiness to work closely to administer the region.

He said the role of chiefs in the development of every region could not be downplayed and stated his preparedness to seek their advice on critical issues of development and governance.

Alhaji Salia said this on Wednesday when he paid courtesy calls on three Paramount Chiefs in the Lawra and Lambussie-Karni districts.

They are Naa Puewelle Karbo III, Naa Puobe Puore Chiir and Kuoro Iddrisu Bammie, Paramount Chiefs of Lawra, Nandom and Lambussie Traditional areas respectively.

Alhaji Salia appealed to the chiefs to continue to partner the government by participating in development activities and also give advice when necessary.

He also appealed to the chiefs to help him restore peace in the region, stressing that without peace it would be difficult to implement government's policies and programmes to develop the region.

Naa Puowelle Karbo congratulated the Minister on his appointment, stating that Alhaji Salia was one of the experienced politicians the region had ever produced and that he had no doubt that he would deliver.

Naa Puowelle Karbo also thanked him for his commitment to work with chiefs and added that they as chiefs were ready to support anybody appointed as the Regional Minister to bring about development despite his or her political colours, religious background or tribe.

He said traditional councils played an important role in revenue mobilisation and urged the Minister to impress on the District Assemblies to resource the Traditional Councils for them to function effectively.

Naa Puobe Puore Chiir called on the Minister to improve on the road network in order to link up commercial areas to market places in the region and beyond.

Addressing Heads of Departments and Government Agencies at Lawra and Lambussie, the Minister congratulated them for partnering with their District Chief Executives to implement government policies and programmes.

The Minister also inspected school projects at Eremon and Piina Senior High Schools (SHS) and expressed happiness at the level and pace at which the projects were being carried out.