During the SADA rebranding, SADA Business and Investment Forum (SABIF) was born. Stakeholders and representatives from all regions converged at the Tamale Sports Stadium from the March 24 to March 28, 2015. The first day saw many youth mentors together to mentor many youths who came in their numbers. Many of the mentors came from the Barcamp Organisers in Tamale. Issues discussed were from education to challenges of the youth to opportunities for exploration in the Savannah among others.
Hon. Koh, a global development expert from Singapore, addressing the audience on the March 25, 2015 said, Singapore will buy anything Ghanaians have to sell provided it is of good quality, because they cannot afford to grow or make many things in Singapore, making them even import sand and will be glad to import from Ghana. He also mentioned that heavy duty cars tear up roads no matter how well constructed. He called on SADA to construct rails to help the goods get on the market cheaply. He also said skills need to be trained in order to help the system. Mr. Koh emphasized that SADA needs to identify their market before they start working. He added that there should be a look at integration; so the government should send some experts to places to study fishes which can adapt to the Ghanaian weather. He added that from grains, one can produce animal feeds, milk, powder etc. so Ghanaians should explore.
The Deputy Upper East Regional Minister said his area is the best place in the savannah because they have a lot of untapped resources. Even those who say they are broke have rocks and are in zones where shea nut picking abounds. He said the SADA project failed at first because young people were pushed there and getting money, driving huge cars and attending conferences were their main motives. He said they could revive the Burkina Tomato Factory but for the challenges they face. He also mentioned that they only have only one motorable road which is from Tamale to Paga. He mentioned that the bad roads affect business because all the cattle, onions, groundnuts etc. come from the Bawku road but it is so bad that it impedes on the growth of businesses. There is no free zone enclave so no one would bother to come and do business there because it would be more costly and there are no incentives but there are lots of tourists’ attractions
The representative of the Upper West Region said the Upper West Region was the last region created in 1983 and has a population of 700,000 people with 70% engaging in agriculture. Nine out of ten people in the upper west region, he noted, are poor. It also has health and educational challenges. They engage in millet, maize, sorghum etc. production, irrigation is their main problem because only four months out of the whole year give them rains. The representative also stated that, the Upper West Region has an advantage in international trade because they share a border with Burkina Faso. He also reiterated the fact that they need good roads because they are the least in terms of tarred roads in the country. He also said that there is the potential of producing a lot of cotton but there are challenges that need to be addressed. He mentioned the challenges of education and health; there are no doctors present so he appealed for help. He mentioned the need to promote environmental protection because most people are burning charcoal by cutting trees. He also added that there are many tourists attractions that need to be worked on to attract the tourists.
The representative of the Volta region said they have three take off points where paragliding is concerned whereas the Eastern region has only one but nothing is being done to generate income. She said that the Voltarians are vulnerable because the lands are fertile but water is a problem because the pipe borne projects have been abandoned. She also mentioned that Krachi is surrounded by water and so they should be able to have irrigation but because of poverty, they cannot do this adding Krachi is a fishing zone so they can also help in aqua culture. She mentioned that the new SADA is asking regions to tell them what needs to be done, this involvement she thanked the new SADA for. She appealed to SADA to get to the Volta Region to establish a stone quarry adding they are hardworking but they lack the basic resources.
Justice Agyei, representing the Brong Ahafo Region, said they are described as the food basket of the country, their lands are fertile and they produce about 30% of the foods in the country. He explained that they produce yam, cocoyam, cocoa etc. They have a lot of tourists sites, the only challenge is that they have not been able to develop them. The people, he noted, are very poor and they have not been able to raise resources to finance those projects. He stressed that many regions are able to produce a lot of cashew nuts but the people cannot afford to process them because of finances. He said he believes they can produced more than the 30% if they are given the needed boost. He appealed to investors to come in and help with instrumentations and help to process what need to be processed. He also mentioned the challenge of roads and that many are not able to transport their yams, cassava, etc. If they are able to beat the challenge of getting the machinery of processing etc., they can move forward in the right direction.
The northern regional minister said the northern region is the largest region in the country with 70 kilometres of the landmarks of this country. He mentioned that the congregants should have moved round to see the things for themselves instead of meeting to talk about them. He stated that his portion is to facilitate whatever it is anyone wants to do in the Savannah. He stressed on internal tourism and said many people in Ghana have not set foot in the Mole National Park. He added that the role of the engineer is very important and so are looking for engineers who would come in and help in building good and affordable houses to support the housing scheme here and it would cost 20, 000 cedis to put up a two bedroom apartment. Institute of engineers should whip up the engineering zone to help recruit many engineers to help grow the regions. He went on to state that some farmers do not have monies to buy tractors but others even have the monies and can’t get the tractors to buy. He appealed to Ghanaians to not let the white man’s view that if you want to hide something from a black man, put it in a book, be the case.
The Deputy minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Honourable Abla Dzifa Gomashie corrected that the ministry is not only about tourism but also about creative arts and culture . She said that shea butter on the market lacks the ingredients to improve upon it and the packaging is not the best. She said that every opportunity we get is an opportunity to sell what we have. She mentioned that even the music of the north was not incorporated into the programme and that is bad in its own right. She said the ministry under the leadership of Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare is ready to support in any way possible, perhaps not in monetary terms because government has been decentralized but in any other way possible.
Deputy Minister for Science, Environment, Science and Innovation, Honourable Bernice Adiku Heloo, was disappointed in the fact that the ways the baskets were woven twenty years ago have not seen any improved changes. She stressed that there is the need for us to innovate to attract investors emphasizing if we destroy the environment, we cannot get it back so we should make sure that the lands used are sustainable. She ended her speech by saying “Preserve the environment”.
Mr. Saani, a lecturer at UDS said that it saddens him that 60years down the line of independence, Ghanaians still need foreigners in order to develop. When the Koreans wanted to build trains, they sent their delegates to other countries to learn and when they came back, they built 36 trains, he said sadly. He noted that the basis of our development is to rely on technology, advising Ghanaians shouldn’t be looking at economic development in isolation. He suspected that the scientific community could be challenged to produce sustainable energy but we still have problems with energy. There was an exhibition of assorted products to crown the occasion.
Authorial note: Some entrepreneurs got sponsorship from the investors who were there at the end of the day. The decoration was simple beside the fact that too much food that even the stakeholders could not consume went waste leaving one wondering why rebrandings should come at high cost, all the drink ups and cocktails in evenings at fanciful places with kelewele and other chewables were unnecessary. If things continue the way they have started, maybe, just maybe, the birds who consumed our feed in huge monies and flew to Burkina Faso, might reconsider to come back and roost on Ghanaian trees until they produce our moneys with interest.
Mum Cee 