By Gilbert Azeem Tiroog
Gbeogo (U/E), Jan 1, GNA – Mr Stephen Yakubu, Upper East Regional Minister, has expressed concern over the refusal of land owners in the Bolgatanga Municipality to release lands for government projects.
According to him, the landowners were making it very difficult for the Regional Coordinating Council to facilitate the construction of institutions to fit the municipality status and as the regional capital.
“Currently, the passport office, Office of the Labour Department, the Offices of the Minerals Commission, and the SOCO Offices, among others, are being constructed with difficulties,” he stated.
The Minister said this at Gbeogo in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region during the 13th Biannual Congress of Bolgatanga, Nangodi, Bongo, and Tongo (BONABOTO), an advocacy civil society organisation.
It was held on the theme: “Promoting Peaceful Coexistence, Protecting the Environment for Sustainable Development: The Role of BONABOTO.”
He said the role of BONABOTO and Chiefs in sensitising communities on the need to collaborate with the Regional Coordinating Council was crucial as families and landowners demanded outrageous compensation packages for lands, scaring both investors and government institutions from coming to the region.
The Minister also noted that the region had not been peaceful because of the Bawku chieftaincy disputes.
“The Bolgatanga chieftaincy conflict, though calm because the case is still at the National House of Chiefs for a final verdict, I urge the two rival gates to accept the verdict when it is finally pronounced,” he emphasised.
Tongraan Kugbilisong Nanlebtang, the Paramount Chief of the Talensi Traditional Area and the chairperson for the occasion underscored the need to decentralise the regional institutions and offices to some Municipalities and districts.
This, he noted, would ease the pressure on land at the Bolgatanga Municipality and spread development to the other areas of the region.
He called on his colleague chiefs to make land available for developmental purposes and pledged his willingness to release land for development in his jurisdiction.
GNA