A GNA Feature by Mohammed Nurudeen Issahaq

Bolgatanga, June 2 GNA - Burkina Faso may be described as an arid, landlocked country and one of the world's poorest according to international standards. The Burkinabe may not be as fortunate as those of us in Ghana where natural and forest resources abound, but man, they sure have a style! Believe me, whether in the area of agriculture, commerce, administration or environmental protection, our Burkinabe neighbours have made and are continuing to make, giant strides. The old adage "necessity is the mother of invention" is manifest in the entire national life. That coupled with strict law enforcement, discipline and tenacity is, perhaps the secret of that country's success story.

Tenkodogo; capital town of the Central East Region of Burkina Faso; lies about 200 kilometres to the south of the national capital, Ouagadougou. A royal town founded about 1,100 years ago. Legend has it that it was the first settlement from where the descendants of Princess Yennega moved out to inhabit the rest of present day Burkina Faso. The town has a population of about 40,000 inhabitants comprising Moshie, Busanga, Fulani and Yangse ethnic groups. The Central East is the first of the 13 regions of Burkina Faso from the Ghana side of the common border through the Bawku end. Over the years, there has been greater interaction between the people of that region and their counterparts on the Ghana side of the frontier, an intercourse that has witnessed both pleasant and unpleasant times.

In a bid to reinforce the positive aspects and resolve the difficulties associated with this relationship, the administrative authorities of the two neighbouring regions have recognised the need to come together to promote good border administration and foster closer cooperation among the people.

This wish was concretised with a visit by a delegation from the Central East Region led by Mr Jacob Ouedraogo, Governor of the Region, to Bolgatanga on March 15, 2005 for bilateral talks with their Ghanaian counterparts.

At the Bolgatanga meeting, the two sides deliberated on issues of concern to their respective regions/countries, with the view to deepening the existing bonds of cooperation and more importantly facilitating the implementation of the ECOWAS Protocol across their common frontier. In furtherance of the deliberations held in Bolgatanga, there was a reciprocal visit to Tenkodogo by a delegation from the Upper East Region of Ghana led by the Regional Minister, Mr Boniface Gambila, from March 29 to April 1, 2006.

The Upper East delegation included the Deputy Regional Minister, Alhaji Awudu Yiremea, the Regional Coordinating Director, Mr David Bakari; District Chief Executives; Regional Directors of Education; Agriculture; Custom Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Immigration; Ghana National Fire Service and Environmental Protection Agency; the Regional Police Commander and representatives from the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU).

On the other side of the conference table at Hotel Djamou were the Governor, his Deputy, Heads of the Gendarmerie, Douanes, Forestry and Lands; transport owners, businessmen, religious and traditional authorities. Ghana's Ambassador to Burkina Faso, Mr Sahanun Mogtari drove in from Ouagadougou to witness the talks.

Both the Governor of the Region and the Mayor of Tenkodogo, Mr Alassane Zakane set the tone for the discussion in their welcoming speeches by emphasising the historical links of fraternity and cooperation that existed between Ghana and Burkina Faso. The session then became more business-like, with the two sides acknowledging great achievements in the areas of security cooperation, health, cross-border movement of persons and goods, transport and commerce.

They recognised, however, that there was room for improvement in areas such as cattle rustling, environmental protection, harassment of travellers and delays at road check-points in both countries. Other concerns raised included recognition/respect for the ECOWAS Brown Card by border officials of the two neighbouring States; the promotion of educational and cultural exchange programmes between schools; fuel smuggling; as well as increased cooperation in agriculture and food processing.

Governor Ouedrago made mention of constraints faced by the Burkina Government in the provision of energy for its people, despite efforts being made to generate hydroelectric power locally. His country was, therefore, looking forward for serious negotiations on the extension of Ghana's electricity from Bawku to Bittou (capital of one of the districts in Central East), a distance of about 30 kilometres.

Of particular interest were the problems of sharing common water resources and Fulani herdsmen. The former point derived relevance from the construction of the Bagre Dam about 40 kilometres from Tenkodogo by the Burkina Faso authorities, an enterprise, which has placed communities along the White Volta basin in Northern Ghana in a double-jeopardy situation. By the creation of the dam, water is trapped upstream for use by Burkinabe farmers all year round. The opening of the spill-way at Bagre during rainy seasons often causes massive flooding downstream resulting in the destruction of farmlands in communities residing along the river basin, notably around Kobore, Sapelliga and Pwalugu.

In his comments on the issue, Mr Gambila indicated that the Bagre Project should not be allowed to sour the relationship between the two neighbours. Instead, it should be utilised to serve as a unifying factor between the Governments and peoples of Ghana and Burkina Faso. Mr Abdul-Rahman Gumah, Bawku Municipal Chief Executive, recounted the agonies suffered by many a Ghanaian village community in the hands of Fulani herdsmen. It ranged from the destruction of vegetation to the rape of helpless village women in the bush.

Commenting on the subject, an official from the Burkinabe Lands Department said Ghana could learn from the Burkina Faso authorities about how to bring the activities of Fulani herdsmen under control. He said in Burkina Faso the herdsmen had been registered, and that they could not move from one point to another without obtaining a Certificate of Transhumance from the local authorities.

This enables the agencies concerned to keep track of their whereabouts, thereby minimising the incidence of lawlessness. The two sides agreed to hold one double session every year - a meeting in Bolgatanga and a reciprocal one in Tenkodogo - for deliberations. They also recommended that committees on Security, Health, Environment and Agriculture, Education, Culture and Sports, Women and Children and Transport and Commerce be set up by both regions. These Committees would meet quarterly and submit recommendations to the General Conference for action.

Perhaps the most exciting point of the visit came on the morning of March 31, when the hosts took the Ghanaian delegation on a three-hour guided tour of the Bagre Dam Project. It was started in October 1989 by the Government of Burkina Faso with support from the Taiwanese Government, and inaugurated in January 1994. It serves two main purposes - generation of hydro-electric power and irrigation.

According to Mr Paul Compaore, Electrical Engineer for the project, electricity generated at Bagre constitutes about 14 per cent of the total power requirement of Burkina Faso.

On the whole, there are about 12,000 farm families residing in 10 farm settlements at the Bagre Project Site. They have been provided with schools, clinics as well as storage facilities. Approximately 1,800 hectares of land has been put under cultivation, with another 1,500 hectares of untouched land yet to be exploited.

There are also 22 fish ponds constructed recently at the project site as part of the Agriculture Ministry's fish farming venture, making what was originally meant to be a hydro-electric project now developing into one of the biggest irrigation and fishery ventures the Burkina Faso Government had embarked upon in recent times. In his remarks, the Upper East Regional Director of Agriculture, Mr Roy Ayariga said one significant lesson to be learnt from Bagre was that "whereas in Ghana our emphasis has been on the hydro-electric aspect of the Akosombo Dam all these years to the detriment of its irrigation benefits, the Burkinabe are rather concentrating on the agricultural advantage of their project".

Another memorable part of the visit was the courtesy call on the King of Tenkodogo, Naaba Saaga, at his palace on the final day of the visit.

Man; that was tradition and royalty at their best. The round thatched hut in the forecourt of the palace where the King, surrounded by his Linguists and Council of Elders, received visitors. Here everybody (including the King) remained standing because there were no seats. The floor of the hut was not cemented either. Amid traditional music and blowing of curved animal horns, the King shook hands with each member of the delegation. Then he and the Governor led the visitors out of the hut to a modern, well-furnished sitting room at the other end of the palace.

Everyone now seated, the Overlord of Tenkodogo began his welcome speech by emphasising the common historical bonds that bind the peoples of Ghana and Burkina Faso. Tracing his people's ancestry to Gambaga in the Northern Region of Ghana, he indicated that even today any ruler of Tenkodogo, who stays on the skins for 33 years has to go to Gambaga to perform certain rites at an ancestral shrine there. "I recall a similar event like this one in the 1960s when I was a boy. My late father, who was King, met late Presidents Kwame Nkrumah, Houphouet Boigny and Maurice Yameogo in this very palace to discuss about uniting the people in the three neighbouring countries," Naba Saaga said.

He went on to relate how the late Asantehene, Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, also visited his late father to cement relations between the Moshie and the people of Ashanti. He recalled a reciprocal visit by a delegation from Tenkodogo to Kumasi sometime later.

"In addition to bringing the peoples of our two neighbouring regions closer, I have no doubt that this initiative embarked upon by the Regional Ministers of Upper East (of Ghana) and Central East (of Burkina Faso) would further enhance the solidarity that exists between Presidents John Kufuor and Blaise Compaore." Naba Saaga said. He reaffirmed his support and that of the entire traditional authority in the region for the efforts the Regional Ministers were making to bridge the gap between the two provinces.

Mr Mogtari hailed the initiative and urged the administrative authorities of the two regions not to let the idea be a nine-day=92s wonder. "Sister-city relationships are now an effective way of fostering closer co-operation between neighbouring countries," he noted, pledging the support of the Ghana Mission in Ouagadougou towards the sustainability of the cordial relations between the people of Upper East and Central East Regions.

As clearly articulated by Mr Gambila, however, the involvement of the broad masses of the population in programmes on integration is the sure way forward.

The Upper East Minister, who had earlier stolen the show by delivering his address in French rather than English Language, declared: "Until we find ways of bringing on board our people, who are the real beneficiaries of integration, we shall continue to go from one conference to another without actually making any headway in this noble cause."

It couldn't be put in a better way because, after all, the discussions held at the two-day session were all people-centred: heightened economic co-operation; joint ventures between Ghanaian and Burkinabe entrepreneurs; cross-border power extension between Bawku and Bittou; ECOWAS Brown Card and the free movement of people across common frontiers and the rest of it.

The big issue, though, is the political will and the level of sincerity by the two sides involved. The extent to which each side would be prepared to go in the implementation of decisions reached at the meeting towards the realization of common aspirations. That is the crux of the matter.

One thing is certain, though. That interaction of this nature if held regularly, could help to minimize tension between the two neighbouring regions, and the two sister countries for that matter.