Bolgatanga, July 26, GNA - The Upper East Regional Co-ordinating Council (UERCC) has decided not to award contracts to contractors who failed to include tree planting in their bids.

Mr Boniface Gambila, Upper East Regional Minister announced this on Tuesday when addressing National Service Personnel (NASPA) as part of their annual week celebration in Bolgatanga. He commended NASPA for making tree planting one of its activities to mark this year's celebration and urged the personnel to intensify and sustain the exercise.

Mr Gambilla appealed to them to educate the public on the need to plant trees to prevent desertification in the country. He noted that the National Service Scheme was not to punish them but to expose them to the challenges of life.

Mr Charles Ayong, Upper East Regional Co-ordinating Director of the Scheme said out of the 569 national service personnel posted to the region last year, only 325 reported.

He said payment of allowances had improved and monitoring of national service personnel in the region had been intensified. However, Mr Ayong noted that the Scheme was facing problems, including delay in the payment of allowances and reluctance of service personnel to serve in rural areas and northern parts of the country. Mr Ayong announced that Government had donated a brand new pickup to the Secretariat to facilitate its activities.