The vice president who doubles as the presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party was addressing members of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs in Bolgatanga as part of his day’s campaign tour of the region.

He stated that under his presidency Chiefs, Divisional Chiefs as well as Queen Mothers would be paid what is called Living Wages.

He said the health of the masses were so dear to government that was why the Agenda lll Complete Hospital project was started to bring healthcare delivery to the door steps of the people adding that seven of these projects were being put up in the Upper East Region some of which were at various stages of completion. He pledged to upgrade the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital to befit its status as a regional hospital.

Dr. Bawumia promised to establish District Mining Committees for which chiefs would play an active role in the issuance of mining licenses to small scale miners in all the mining districts of this country. To better place the small scale miners to expand their operations the vice president pledged to establish Mineral Development Bank to make access to credit very easy for small scale miners.

Smock donation was made by members of the House of Chiefs to the Dr. Bawumia.

Source – gbcuraonline.com

He mentioned the Ghana Share Landscape and Emissions Reduction project, implemented by the Forestry Commission with the aim to restore degraded savannah forests and strengthen livelihoods in such areas through enhanced ecosystems.

He added that the Green Ghana project introduced in 2021 was also intended to boost afforestation and contribute to the global efforts to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change.

“Mention can also be made of the Youth in Afforestation Project, launched in 2018 which employed over 65,000 youth to plant about 10 million tree seedlings across the country and the Ghana Productivity Safety Net, under which dams, dugouts and plantation farms are been rehabilitated and constructed,” he said.

The Minister said this in a speech read on his behalf at this year’s Fao festival of the Chiefs and people of Chiana in the Kassena-Nankana District.

The festival brought together various Paramount Chiefs within and outside the Kassena-Nankana District and Municipality, and was on the theme: “Creating awareness on climate change and environmental protection in the savannah zone: The Role of cultural festivals and community-based practices.”

To address the worsening impact of climate change and environmental degradation in communities in the Region, the Minister said as a region, there was the need to leverage on occasions like the Fao festival to sensitize community members on the need to protect the environment.

He said “Our lives are connected to the environment, and we need to adapt bold and sustainable measures as stakeholders to reduce the rate at which our environment is being depleted through indiscriminate felling of trees, bush burning, sand winding and other harmful farming practices.”

Hon. Yakubu  used the occasion to announce that the Region had received the second trench of the World Bank credit facility for the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) project, which was ongoing across all 15 Municipalities and Districts in the Region, and that procurement processes would soon begin.

He urged residents in the Region to take advantage of all government policies and programmes to improve their lives.

Both Regional Executives and Parliamentary Candidates (PCs) of the two main political parties; the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), took advantage of the festival to propagate their messages and gave the assurance that given political power in the upcoming elections, they would work to improve the lives of Constituents.

By Raymond Batasia Wegwi.