I’ll investigate reports of shoddy works One-village, One-dam initiative

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said he will investigate reports of shoddy works on dams being constructed under the One-village, One-dam government initiative.

According to the President, he was aware of claims by a section of the media that some residents of beneficiary communities were not satisfied with the quality of work on the dams being constructed in their respective areas.

President Akufo-Addo gave the assurance when a delegation from the Navrongo Traditional Area in the Upper East Region, led by the Paramount Chief (Navro Pio), Pe Asagepaare Dennis Aniakwao Belinia Adda II, paid a courtesy call

on him at the Jubilee House in Accra last Wednesday.

Delegation

The delegation included some members of the Royal Family and eight senior divisional chiefs and their elders.

They were at the seat of government to express gratitude to President Akufo-Addo for standing by them during the funeral of the late Paramount Chief of the area, Dr A. B. Adda, and the processes leading to the enskinment of the present paramount chief as the successor.

Touching on the development of the Navrongo Campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS), President Akufo-Addo said the decision to make the Navrongo Campus of the UDS autonomous was irreversible.

He said the government had put processes in place to realise that objective and that very soon it would materialise.

He was grateful to the chiefs for readily offering land for the expansion of the university and commended the chiefs and the people of Navrongo for ensuring a peaceful succession to the skin and urged other ethnic groups to emulate that exemplary attitude of the people.

Unity

While stressing the need for a united Ghana for a smooth development process, President Akufo-Addo said: “Yes, we will have differences in opinions and views, as it should be in any free and open society, but we do not want monolithic thinking in Ghana that everybody should follow what I say. No.”

He said he was not interested in that kind of Ghana because “I want a Ghana where people are using their minds to make contributions to the general welfare and the understanding that even though there are differences among us, we are bound together in one common enterprise of building a great future for our country”.

“I, therefore, hope that your reign will be equally peaceful, productive and prosperous to the people of Navrongo,” he told the Navro Pio.

The President indicated that “the possibility to achieve that united country for enhanced development is available and so there is the need to work together to make that happen”.

Appreciation

In a speech read on his behalf, Pe Adda II expressed appreciation to President Akufo-Addo for his unwavering support and love for the people of Navrongo, as well as his unrelenting efforts at ensuring lasting peace in northern Ghana.

He was happy with the rehabilitation of the Tono Irrigation project and the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs programme, which he said would provide economic opportunities for the people of the area.

The chief also welcomed the decision of the government to turn the Navrongo Campus of the UDS into an autonomous university of Technology and Applied Sciences.

Pe Adda said plans were underway to institutionalise traditional governance to insulate the institution against associated tensions and conflicts in the area.

According to him, the Navrongo Traditional Council would be rehabilitated and the secretariat located in the precincts of his palace to provide space for a new secretariat to position the paramountcy on a proper pedestal for effective traditional governance, while a museum and a base for documentation on the tradition and culture of the people would also be established to promote tourism.