2018 SoNA Had No Direct Contact With Ordinary People

Mr Stanley Abopaam, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Upper East Regional Chapter of the Bolgatanga, Nangodi, Bongo and Tongo (BONABOTO), says the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) did not cater for ordinary Ghanaians.

He said from government’s point of view, the address was fair, but to the ordinary citizen, and for that matter “the suffering masses of the Upper East Region in general and particularly the BONABOTO areas, we feel that the address was not the representation of the situation on the ground.”

He said there was no specific targeted activity of the government relative to the many development challenges in the region, adding that government’s plan to construct a railway line from Takoradi to Paga did not suggest it was a project that would be achieved soon.

Mr Abopaam who reacted to the SONA in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga, on Friday said “we had expected the President to talk about the two defunct factories in the region, relative to the One - District, One – Factory, but we heard nothing.”

He said it was BONABOTO’s expectation to hear the President talk about how government would harness the agricultural potentials of Bawku, Zebilla, Binduri, Pusiga and Tilli in the Kusang and Navrongo areas.

The PRO said the President was again silent about the agricultural potentials of the Fumbisi Valley, the rocks and ceramic facilities at Tongo, Nangodi and Bongo, on road infrastructure, “the president did not specifically talk about the Bolga, Bawku, Pulmako road that is of great concern to all”

Mr Abopaam observed that the address was silent on the airport project in the region, and the Regional hospital yet to be equipped, saying the President spoke in general terms.

He said the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) still had challenges because for the past three weeks the NHIS in Bolgatanga could not print cards, while most of the medicines covered by the insurance were rarely available.

Mr Abopaam however commended the government for the good work done in some parts of the country.