Lambussie (UW), March 15, GNA - Mr. Mahmoud Khalid, Upper West Regional Minister has undertaken a three-day familiarization tour of the region during which he interacted with Paramount chiefs and elders and spelt out his vision for the development of the region to them. He promised to drastically reduce poverty in the area during his tenure as the Regional Minister and asked for the support and cooperation of the chiefs and elders in the maintenance of peace to enable him to achieve that ambition. "Even though we are enjoying some modicum of peace in the region, we should not go to sleep and think that all is well, "he stated and urged them to identify all flash points and quell them before they go out of control.

The tour took him to all Paramountcies in the region that have sitting chiefs. Mr. Khalid told the chiefs to constantly advise pregnant women to access ante-natal services in clinics and hospitals and get their babies immunized against the childhood killer diseases in order to reduce the high maternal and infant mortality in the region which continues to be the highest in the country. He blamed the high HIV/AIDS prevalence in the region to the attitude of the people and appealed to the chiefs to re-dedicate themselves to spearheading the campaign to stop the spread of the disease.

The Regional Minister also spoke against drugs and alcohol abuse in the region and urged the chiefs to discourage the youth from cultivating Indian hemp or "Wee" to the detriment of food crops. The chiefs congratulated the Regional Minister on his appointment and promised to support and cooperate with him to implement his development agenda for the region. The Paramount chief of Lambussie Traditional Area, Kuoro Iddrisu Bamie advised him not to allow himself to be influenced and deceived by self-seekers who did not have the development of the newly created Lambussie/Karni District at heart. Naa Dr Puore Puobe Chiir, Paramount chief of the Nandom Traditional Area called on the new Minister to prevail on the Government to create a new district for the area.

He noted that the area could be opened up for development by tarring the Nadowli-Babile- Lawra- Nandom- Hamile road saying that, although this project has all along be trumpeted, nothing concrete seemed to be happening on the road.