President John Dramani Mahama on Saturday announced that Cabinet had approved a loan from the Barclays Bank to sponsor the construction of the Wa Regional Hospital.

He said all the necessary arrangements had been made to disburse the funds for work to start on the hospital project.

President Mahama announced this when he addressed a grand durbar of chiefs and people at the Naa Sidiki Bomi’s Park in Wa.

He was in the region as part of his one-day “thank you tour” to acknowledge their contribution towards the final funeral rites of Late President John Atta Mills.

President Mahama appealed to Ghanaians to maintain the unity in the country saying “we are one people and should not allow ourselves to be divided by party politics, and that momentum needs to be sustained”.

President Mahama said Ghana’s democratic credentials had risen higher as a result of the successful elections in previous years and smooth transition after death of President Mills.

He urged Ghanaians to be guided by that achievement by implementing peaceful political campaigns from now till the December 7 elections.

He said government had provided 20 million Ghana Cedis for Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to start with an afforestation programme which was expected to plant 5 million trees and help check the desertification in the area.

President Mahama said 16,000 family households would also be provided with seeds and fertilizers and they would pay back the cost after harvest adding that government had released 100 tractors for hire purchase and 50 more would be released in subsequent months to propel SADA Programmes.

He gave the assurance that government would provide all the necessary support to ensure a free, fair and peaceful elections.

Naa Sohemwiniye Dana Gore II, President of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs, commended government for the initiation of the SADA and hoped it would be sustained to create more jobs for the people in the region.

He expressed satisfaction that government had embarked on the construction of more roads and appealed to President Mahama to complete work on all projects initiated by President Mills.

He also appealed to security agencies to tighten their activities to ensure incident free elections come December 7.

Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, Upper West Regional Minister, said government had provided numerous development projects for the region within the three and a half years of President Mills’ administration.

He said the region was peaceful and gave the assurance that the people would sustain the peace before, during and after the elections.