Bolgatanga, Jan. 6, GNA – Mr Stephen Yakubu , Upper East Regional Minister has praised the Bolgatanga, Nabdam, Bongo and Tongo (BONABOTO) Association, a civil society for its relentless efforts in seeking the development and progress of not only the association, but all its catchment areas in the Region.
Mr Yakubu acknowledged the advocacy roles played by the Association and direct investment efforts of the group in areas of health, education, the Gurune language, conflict management and infrastructure development of the Region.
“Your good works have made you a dominant authority in Northern Ghana,” the Minister told the newly elected National Executives of BONABOTO when they called on him at his residence in Bolgatanga.
The visit was intended to introduce newly elected executives of BONABOTO to the Minister and to discuss critical development issues affecting the BONABOTO areas and the Region as a whole.
According to him, politicians required the support of groups like BONABOTO to holistically prosecute the development agenda of the Region, and pledged his willingness to collaborate with BONABOTO to develop the Region.
He assured leadership of BONABOTO that pertinent issues raised such as wrong street names, house numbers and digital addresses identified by the group within the Region would soon be pursued and corrected to reflect the in right names.
Dr Samuel Atintono, National President of the association thanked the Minister for granting them audience, and urged him to leverage on his personal attributes such as humility and simplicity to propel the development of the Region.
He said BONABOTO was a civil society organization made of people from Frafra speaking areas in the Region, committed to advocating the development and progress of the BONABOTO zones and the entire Upper East Region.
The leaders drew the Minister’s attention to indiscriminate sales of government lands, especially in Bolgatanga, Bawku and Navrongo by some authorities, and bemoaned the bad nature of link roads within the Bolgatanga Municipality.
They mentioned other problems as the delayed Regional Airport project, security issues in the Region, and the delay to equip the completed phase two of the Regional hospital project to fully function as a referral hospital among other major issues facing the Region, and also called for immediate action to curtail the falling standards of education in the Region.
The National President, who is also the Principal of the Accra College of Education, said BONABOTO was ready to collaborate with the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC)to solve the many developmental challenges confronting the BONABOTO areas and Region as a whole.
GNA