The 2012 presidential candidate of the Convention Peoples’ Party, Dr.
Abu Sakara Foster says the reconstitution of the board of the Savannah
Accelerated Development Authority, SADA, has come too late to save it
from the troubles created.
President Mahama reconstituted the board this month to help the
Authority achieve its’ prime aim of bridging the development gap between
those in the north and south of Ghana.
But in a statement, Dr. Sakara says the reconstitution should have come earlier.
"It is therefore with a sigh of relief that recent changes in the Board
of SADA are welcomed even though there has been no tacit admission that
these changes are in response to the public outcry over perceived
corruption in the administration of SADA.
“These changes by themselves do not go far enough to really turn around
the fortunes of SADA. It has come too late to save the buoyant national
support that SADA previously enjoyed!"
BELOW IS HIS FULL STATEMENT
Restore Belief in SADA
The Savannah Accelerated Development Agency (SADA) was initiated with
high hopes of bridging the development gap between Ghana's poorest areas
in the north and the rest of the country. At its beginning SADA was the
one thing on which all political and social fronts agreed. This
laudable national initiative brought out the best in us. After all
everyone had a hand in bringing SADA to fruition in its transition from
NDF under NPP to SADA under the NDC administration. The very act of
reaching a national consensus on bridging the north-south development
divide was uplifting and felt like the healing of "gaping wound' in our
national development psyche had began. It is now sad that SADA for many
is tragically mired in controversy and acrimony over charges of gross
misappropriation of public funds.
This is not just a disappointment, it is a crushing indictment on our
capacity to seek the greater common good even when we agree on the
approach. It is for this reason that we must do everything to restore
our belief in SADA, because it represents our belief in ourselves and
the common good of our nation.
We must not rest on our "oars" for business as usual because committees
of enquiry have been set up. Investigative reports alone will not stem
the tide of criticism because there is a sense that denial by
officialdom is tantamount to saying changes are not needed.
It is therefore with a sigh of relief that recent changes in the Board
of SADA are welcomed even though there has been no tacit admission that
these changes are in response to the public outcry over perceived
corruption in the administration of SADA. These changes by themselves do
not go far enough to really turn around the fortunes of SADA. It has
came too late to save the buoyant national support that SADA previously
enjoyed! The delay allowed the allegations, discontent and mistrust to
fester for too long.
Those who offered advice quietly were themselves left in a state of
frustration as it seemed that Government officials and the past SADA
Board dug in defensively for business as usual. If SADA is to succeed
as we all wish then the new board must break visibly with the past. If
the truth be told, the new Board of SADA must now work harder than ever
before to restore the public's belief in SADA. They must immediately
ensure that SADA's system of procurement of technical assistance and
goods breaks links with the old system of service providers and
suppliers. There must be greater transparency and scrutiny with less
political interference to ensure SADA is perceived as being finally free
from the influences of "old boys" networks and "kokofu" football
tactics. The new Board must strictly ensure that those who serve as
advisors are not under any circumstances allowed to serve as
consultants. Additionally the Board must appoint a new CEO who is not
associated with the past.
The Board must support him/her to take immediate measures that will
ensure a change in work ethic and attitudes as they build a good mix of
representative staff competencies based on merit and not political
affiliation. Attention should be given to building credibility in the
institution of SADA by asserting its independence in decision making
about its orientation, focus and implementation processes.
Government officials and leaders should not take for granted the tacit
public support SADA once enjoyed across the political spectrum. The
silence of many who support SADA has been mistaken as acquiescence or
complicity in the charges leveled against a few individuals. I urge my
fellow country men and women not to "throw the baby out with the bath
water". SADA is too important to our nation for it to descend from the
high moral ground of political consensus into the pit of partisan
politics.
Let us give the new SADA Board our support and encourage them to rise
to the challenge. We however demand of them a sustained effort and
insistence to right the wrongs of the past as a first step to restore
credibility. A key part of that is their commitment not to bury any past
wrong doing under the carpet! The benefit of doubt we give them is
contingent on their resolve to ensure that SADA is turned around to
serve the interests of the many and not the objectives of the few. The
public irrespective of ethnic or political affiliation will not tolerate
anything less than full disclosure in this particular case.
The branding of all notable persons who hail from the north as part of a
complicit northern elite is a disturbing aspect of the conversations
that have surrounded the credibility of SADA's leadership. Many
respected persons who hail from the north sought a way of intervening to
help resolve the controversy surrounding SADA. The option of giving
advice precluded participation in public criticism. That approach must
not miss opportunity to call for a new beginning for SADA now that it
has a new board in place.
The new board must ask the right questions to lay the foundations for a
new path for SADA. For example the SADA initiative was placed in the
office of the vice President under the Mills administration to give it
the gravitas and push needed to work across multi-sectoral lines with
the vice President as its champion. Why has this not been visibly
replicated under the Mahama administration as an affirmation of the
correctness of that decision? Is the gravitas of a vice President as
champion of SADA no longer necessary? This question and others
pertaining to the focus of SADA as a facilitatory tool for emphasis on
strategic interventions must be clarified for the new board to chart a
correct path for new management.
The interest of all Ghanaians who whole heartedly embraced the SADA
initiative is that we formulate a national tool that can be used to
more effectively redress the imbalances in our national development
wherever they occur. It is my vision and dream that ultimately a
National Accelerated Development Agency could be established to channel
ring fenced funding from our national oil reserve funds into strategic
interventions coordinated from within relevant sectors by multi-sectoral
task force teams.
This will provide an avenue for more effective spending of our money
to reduce transaction costs for industry and agriculture so as to
enhance our competitiveness through productivity increase. Such tight
and targeted spending will also protect us from vulnerability to
corruption and also reduce the leakages and wastage associated with
mainstream budget funding.
Many who supported SADA did so in pursuit of balanced development in
the national interest. Some of us will also want to see in time an
operational Western Accelerated Development Agency (WADA) and an
Eastern Corridor Accelerated Development Agency (ECADA). The deployment
of these other initiatives to achieve a pervasive impact on wealth
creation and poverty reduction in our economy depends on the success of
SADA, the first of their kind.. Restoring belief in SADA should be a
high priority for the new board. We should all wish the new Board of
SADA good luck and God speed in our national interest.
Dr. Michael Abu Sakara Foster
Presidential Candidate 2012
Convention People's Party
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