President Mahama has taken the first bold step in the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) financial debacle by flushing out the Alhassan Andani-led board and replacing them with a fresh one, ostensibly to inject some sanity in the way things are done.
But the President of the land will be making a fatal mistake if he thinks replacing the corrupt-ridden SADA board and its management will yield any meaningful results in the forward march towards building a good image for SADA.
What the President needs to do is to put on measures, first, to retrieve the looted SADA funds and secondly to punish the perpetrators of this heinous crimes against the poor people of the North.
At stake is the GHc200m (c2 trillion) SADA seed money which was hurriedly put together by the Mahama government in 2012 just some few months to the 2012 general elections. This was in fulfillment of a manifesto pledge by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the run-up to the 2008 elections.
The GHc200m seed money was a loan raised through the domestic bond market for SADA by the Mahama government and the people of Ghana. Huge interests have been accruing on the loan since it was domestically syndicated in the middle of 2012 and the people and government of Ghana are paying without complaints. In fact, the loan is part of the huge 2012 budget deficit government has recorded. The Mahama-led government wanted to use it as a campaign tool to garner the votes of the northern regions and the savannah zones in the 2012 elections.
It is intriguing to know that it is this GHc200m seed money meant for the transformation of the northern regions and the savannah zones that has been shared to crooks in the name of afforestation, guinea fowl project, butter nut squash and what have you. And the remaining GHc 74.5m is said to have been stashed in an account at the Stanbic Bank, where the former board chairman of SADA is also the Managing Director.
Therefore, if the President wants to convince the suffering Ghanaians for the need for seed money for SADA again then the people would want to see serious actions to retrieve the looted GHC 200m seed money back to the coffers of SADA.
Looking at how SADA finances have been looted, one is tempted to believe the opposition New Patriotic Party’s (NPP’s) allegations that the huge budget deficit we saw in 2012 fiscal year was partly because of corruption and mismanagement by the Mahama government. For, how would a whopping GHC 200m (c2 trillion) genuinely paid for economic advancement of the poor people of the North end up in the pockets of greedy people? Was that a productive investment? Was that a pro-poor investment? Who would continue to pay the high interest on the GHC 200m, the people of Ghana or the looters? Who would pay back the GHC 200m principal itself when the maturity period is due? In this era of economic crunch and punishing austerity measures in Ghana where would government get resources to provide another seed money for SADA to function in future? What is the guarantee that a newly-financed SADA will be free from looting again?
That is why I am suggesting to his Excellency President Mahama that for him to rally the general Ghanaian population to support another bail out for the beleaguered SADA, then he needs to do all what is possible to retrieve what has been stolen and then punish the offenders. That is the only way he can restore public confidence and support for SADA. That is the only way SADA can function effectively again. That is the only way it can refocus on its core mandate of development. That is the only way the negative publicity will stop for the new board and management to work. Any delay in taking this tough decision would not auger well for the poor people of the North.
The new board, recently appointed by the President will be a toothless dog, which will be incapable of doing anything to transform the north without the necessary financial resources. And how and where would it get the needed financial support? The people of Ghana have clearly no appetite in dishing out any money for SADA to function again without proper accountability. That accountability must start with the retrieval of the GHC200m back to SADA chest and severely punishing the looters.
President Mahama must understand that if nothing at all, he and his family have a legacy and a name to protect especially in his own backyard of the northern regions, so it is in his best interest to take action, and the time for that action is now.
He, his children and children’s children will be affected in one way or the other in the future if money meant for the northern poor are left in the hands of crooks in the name of afforestation, guinea fowl, butter nut squash, bogus consultants e.t.c. Those people have no feeling for the suffering masses of the North and they would also have their space when history about the North is written.
We the northerners and Ghanaians in general will not forgive him now and in future if he fails to work to ensure that the northern regions are transformed under his presidency. There was wide-spread political consensus that the north needs economic and social transformation. That is why there was not even a scintilla of public resistance or complaints when the government and people of Ghana were collectively raising loan to serve as seed money for SADA in 2012. This spirit of brotherliness by the people of Ghana should be reciprocated by the Mahama government by ensuring that the right people are selected to do the right thing for the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority.
The north is at the crossroads. The rest of Ghana has magnanimously helped to vote one of us as the President in 2012, the first in over thirty years. They have also helped us to form and finance a developmental vehicle called SADA. We have northerners in higher national positions than ever before in the nation’s post-independence history. If we squander these opportunities to help ourselves, our regions and our people, then we have nobody to blame in future but ourselves.

Shafiu A. Rahman
Northern Region
ShafiuAR@gmail.com