LAST September, intellectuals from northern Ghana came together to launch an appeal to raise resources, both in cash and in kind, to assist flood victims in the area. Moved by the plight of the victims, citizens of the north in Accra came together to complement the efforts of the government to rebuild the ruins of the flood disaster.
Prior to that, some concerned citizens of the area had taken to the streets in Bolgatanga, Tamale and Wa to draw attention to the widening gap in living conditions between the north and the south. The agitation by the youth cannot be faulted because several surveys have listed the three northern regions as the poorest in the country. The demonstrations were only a legitimate weapon to get public office holders to appreciate the deteriorating living conditions in the north and take steps to address them.
It is against this backdrop that the Daily Graphic welcomes the establishment of the Northern Development Fund, with ¢250 billion as seed money, and urges all citizens of the area to monitor its disbursement to redefine the development process in the area. In addition, the people should feel free to add to whatever programmes and plans that the Tamale Polytechnic will provide to determine the development priorities of the three regions as suggested by the Metropolitan Chief Executive of Tamale, Mr Mohammed Amin Adam Anta, at the 15th matriculation ceremony of the polytechnic.
Every visitor to northern Ghana will agree that the area should be supported with more funds in order to give it a new purpose. The challenges of development stare all Ghanaians in the face, but the stark truth is that the situation appears more alarming in the north, hence the need to redirect financial support from the south to the north. The south has a moral duty to support this endeavour.
Of course, the seed money for the fund will not be enough to transform the north overnight, but it marks a good beginning.
The Daily Graphic believes that the Northern Development Fund initiative announced by Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu in the 2008 Budget Statement last Thursday is to enable the people of the north to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy better quality of life. Without compromising national development agenda, what needs to be done now is for the government to balance the development processes according to the priorities and circumstances of the southern and northern sectors of the country.
The development challenges of the north are complex and so to go around them the government needs to engage experts from all disciplines, such as engineers, economists, public health specialists, educationists and politicians, in an exploration of matters of great urgency in order to make breakthroughs towards ending extreme poverty there.
The pangs of poverty can only be satisfied in the midst of peace and tranquillity. Many communities in northern Ghana are conflict prone. The time has come for the people to desist from chieftaincy and land conflicts which have claimed lives and led to the destruction of property.
The Daily Graphic is of the belief that the way forward in bridging the development gap between the north and the south calls for new thinking and planning by the government, as well as all well-meaning citizens of the north. The challenges of illiteracy and the inadequate spending on health and education, which stand in the way of sustainable development, must be addressed in the interest of national cohesion and integration.
For more than two decades now Ghana has set out to end economic stagnation, attain a middle-income status by 2015 and reduce the number of people below the poverty line to half. The country has every prospect of success in these areas if it makes social investments to end extreme poverty. The people from the north, for their part, must continue to raise their voices against all development.
The national cake must benefit all.
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