A consortium of well meaning scholars from Northern Ghana called the Northern Peoples Forum has asked President John Mahama to take practical steps to retrieve all monies wrongly paid to some individuals and institutions under the guise of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).
Alarmed by the damning revelations of some alleged financial misappropriation of funds meant for the SADA programme, Coordinator and Spokesperson of the NPF, John Kurugu, in a Citi News interview challenged President Mahama to crack the whip on all who might be indicted for diverting SADA funds for their selfish gains.
This comes in the wake of controversies surrounding the implementation of SADA projects such as the afforestation project which was awarded to Asongtaba Cottage Industries (ACI).
Later, a leaked draft report by the University for Development Studies (UDS) audit committee chaired by the Dean of Renewable and Natural Resources, Professor S.K Oppong revealed that 80% of the planted trees by SADA survived.
The raging storm necessitated President Mahama’s dissolution and subsequent reconstitution of a new SADA Board with a list of the appointed members submitted to the Council of State for approval.
That not withstanding, the Northern Peoples Forum expects President Mahama to go the extra mile and retrieve all monies wrongly paid to certain individuals or organizations for no work done.
John Kudu said SADA should be repackaged and entrusted into the care of people who have the zeal and are passionate about bridging the wide developmental disparities between southern and Northern Ghana.
He stated that prosterity will judge current duty bearers if SADA is not well implemented to serve the purpose for which it was established.
By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana