North East Regional Minister designate pledges development

The Minister designate for the North East Region, Ibrahim Tia, has pledged to embark on initiatives that would promote infrastructural development and create job opportunities for the youth in the region if approved. 

He said the region had arable land for the cultivation of various crops, including watermelon, tomato and rice; thus, he would pursue value-addition initiatives to process such crops into finished products for domestic consumption and for export in line with the manifesto of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

“My region is really blessed with arable land. I’ll collaborate with our MPs and the sector minister and thanks to His Excellency’s manifesto on the agriculture mechanisation centres, we can collaborate with all stakeholders to see how we can increase production and refine whatever we are producing there before we sell,” he said.

He maintained that establishing factories, which would employ the youth, to transform raw materials into finished or semi-finished products would provide economic empowerment and also curb the incidence of the youth migrating to cities where they engage in menial work.

Similarly, Mr Tia assured the nation that if confirmed as the substantive minister of the region, he would ensure all stalled economic projects initiated by the previous administration were reviewed and the necessary funding secured for their completion.

He said this last Monday when he appeared before the Appointments Committee for vetting.

In the area of security, the minister designate acknowledged that there were pockets of conflicts and simmering tensions in some parts of the region and pledged to work with the security forces, traditional authorities, opinion leaders and all relevant stakeholders to address the underlying issues to prevent them from escalating.

As head of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC), if approved, he promised to ensure 24-hour policing across districts and on major roads leading in and out of the region to tackle fallouts of violence in other regions and armed robbery which were gradually becoming a common occurrence.

When queried on the perception of witchcraft in the region and its effect on those accused of its practice, Mr Tia described it as a sensitive matter which would require a delicate balance with the traditional beliefs of the people to tackle.

He said outright abolishment of the belief and its physical manifestation such as the Gambaga Witches’ Camp where alleged victims were taken, would be difficult because it was deeply rooted in the culture of the people, citing occasions where accused persons had admitted to being witches.

“The perceptions are so stuck with the people such that we have to manage it. It’s a process. It cannot be just a day’s event.

We have to build the mentality of the people to accept at a point that we can now get to where we all think that this camp should be abolished,” Mr Tia explained. 

Health, education

Mr Tia further pledged to prioritise access to health care by upgrading existing health facilities such as Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds while putting in place measures for the establishment of new ones.

“Also, I’ll collaborate with the district assemblies to see how we can get incentives for doctors and nurses so that we can retain them in the region for our people to access health care,” he added.

The minister designate said he would also prioritise education, particularly for girls by working with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and interested non-governmental organisations (NGO) to ensure their education was uninterrupted. 

Development, national cake

Mr Tia stated that he would work with all stakeholders and Members of Parliament irrespective of their political affiliations to develop a roadmap which would attract attention and the needed resources to the relatively young region.

Acknowledging the ethnic diversity and the political divide of the population in the region, he promised equitable distribution of resources and emphasised that all persons would receive a fair share of the “national cake.”

“I would like to be holding quarterly meetings with all my MPs for us to see how we can develop the region as a whole and I’ll open my door for consultations with all three MPs to my right and to my left. I will not be biased.

We want development so we must work together,” he said.