Assembly Members, CSOs In Tamale Fumes Over Oil Cash ……Northern Ghana Gets 5.2%, Eastern Region 38%

By Joseph Ziem

Members of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly in the Northern Region of Ghana, have charged the government to come out and explain to Ghanaians mostly especially Northerners, the criteria it used to disburse the oil revenue among all the ten administrative regions in the country.

They have described the criteria used for disbursing the oil cash as fraught with inequity and  smacks of insult to some section of Ghanaians, considering the fact that some regions have been allocated huge amounts of money, whereas others have also been given derisory amounts. 

The disgruntled Assembly members, say they simply could not fathom why all the total percentage share of for instance, the three regions of the North – Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions, put together is not even up to 6%, demanding an urgent explanation from the government. 

“We feel the Mills-Mahama led administration of the ruling National Democratic Congress has been unfair to the entire North in the distribution of national resources if what we are hearing and seeing is anything to go by”, the Assembly members protested during a forum organized by Accountability and Good Governance Network (AGNet) with support from the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA). 

Information from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning made available by AGNet to participants at the forum, showed that the Eastern Region was allocated GH¢63,821,794.84 (38%), Brong Ahafo Region GH¢18,218,381.52 (10.8%), Western Region GH¢16,946,647.10 (10%), Ashanti Region GH¢12,864,004.37 (7.7%) and Volta Region GH¢8,365,521.64 (5%). 

The rest include Northern Region with GH¢5,099,412.00 (3%), Greater Accra Region GH¢3,935,581.31 (2.3%), Central Region GH¢2,553,931.81 (1.5%), Upper West Region GH¢ 2,012, 082.59 (1.2%) and Upper East Region GH¢1,650,000.00 (1%).

Going by the aforementioned statistics, the regions with the lion’s share include Eastern, Western, Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions. This is because, in the opinion of some participants, their share of the oil money was more than GH¢10million each. “What serious or urgent development priorities does the NDC government have in the Eastern, Western and Brong Ahafo Regions, that the share of each of them is more than the total amount of monies allocated to the three regions of the North, which are always considered the poorest in the country?”, one of the Assembly members (name withheld) queried in an interview with this writer.

Although there is an allocation to agriculture projects in the Northern Savannah area according to the information presented by the NGO, most of the Assembly members agreed entirely that the amount (GH¢848,917.00, 0.5%) was too scanty, considering the fact that climate change effects were seriously beginning to affect farming activities, thus the need for government to consider huge capital investment in agriculture in the North.

While they also demanded from the government to disclose the exact total share of the oil revenue it so far got from the Jubilee field partners, the Assembly members further called for the establishment of a long term development plan to guide the judicious use of the oil revenue. In their estimation, the plan would also guide every government that comes to power to know where it can spend money on by considering the development priorities of the country.

On the other hand, the Assembly members chided the three members of parliament in Tamale including Alhaji Abubakari Sumani, Tamale North, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Tamale Central and Iddrisu Haruna, Tamale South, for their frequent absenteeism from quarterly meetings organized by the Assembly to explain government policies such as the oil and gas policies to them to enable them also get their people informed. 

Meanwhile, a communiqué jointly issued and signed by Prince A.A Mohammed, Assemblyman for Fooshegu Electoral Area and Presiding Member of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly and Damma Salifu, President of AGNet, said if the development gap between the North and South must be bridged, government would have to ensure that the oil revenue was equitably distributed, that is, the regions with more needs should be given more allocations and those with less needs given less.

The communiqué called for a review of the criteria that was used for the disbursement of the fund because in their estimation, the process was unfair. “The three regions of the North are the poorest and need more resources to develop. Thus, allocations to each of the three regions must be increased to 10%”, it stressed.

It also recommended that the amount of money allocated to the agriculture sector should be increased to 20% instead of the 7% and that the three regions of the North should be given more priority in the use of such monies. “More attention must be paid to the agric sector to ensure that it is more productive so that the youth will not be tempted to migrate to the oil producing areas in search of greener pastures”, the communiqué emphasised.

The communiqué also observed that the 79.8% of the oil money earmarked for the construction of roads was very necessary but called on the government to endeavour to use 30% of the amount to construct roads in the three regions of the North. 

Moreover, the communiqué asked the government to use the GH¢750,000.00 representing 0.4% of the oil money allocated for capacity building in areas related to oil and gas to support rural education in the three regions of the North and also ensure that the capacity building does not benefit only those in the southern sector.

The workshop organized by AGNet in collaboration with GDCA was part of the implementation of its citizen-government engagement program, that aimed at building the capacities of communities with relevant information and skills to enable them effectively engage duty bearers to be accountable to their people.

It was also intended to sensitise members of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly on issues surrounding the oil and gas industry and seek their opinion with regards to how government should use the oil money.

WMDA, GNFS Train Volunteers To Combat Bushfires

From: Joseph Ziem, Walewale   

     

The 2011 United Nations Human Development report released in last November revealed that about 4 million Ghanaians are currently dependent on degraded lands, noting that the natural resources depletion rate for Ghana is also about 7% of Gross National Income of all the citizenry. 

This could be attributed to the fact that about 30% of Ghana’s forest cover was lost between 1990 and 2008. The most interesting aspect of the report however, is that, 58.6% of Ghanaians who ‘know something about Climate Change’, agrees that humans cause global warming and climate change.

In Northern Ghana (Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions), it is undeniably a fact, that the biggest cause of environmental degradation is uncontrolled or indiscriminate bush-burning by the people during the dry season.

Accordingly, the practice coupled with indiscriminate tree felling and charcoal production, is further exacerbating climate change effects in the area as desertification, crop failure, drought, rising temperatures, flood, among others in recent years, have been seriously manifesting.         

In view of the aforementioned, the West Mamprusi District Assembly (WMDA) in the Northern Region in collaboration with the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has undertaken a six day intensive fire training for volunteers in Mishio and Zua communities. 

The training was aimed at imparting fire fighting skill and knowledge on volunteers and equipping them to effectively manage and adequately control bushfires within their respective communities and beyond. 

It was also intended to consolidate the district’s overall agenda of supporting the global efforts in fighting climate change whiles strengthening local civil society capacities in taking up their own initiatives in the fight against climate change in the country. 

About 80 fire volunteers were trained and they were taught topics such as general knowledge on bush fires, methods of fighting bushfires, the effects of bushfires, bushfire control, foot drills/fire safety, field experiment and practice.

This was followed by a one day entire community level fire prevention sensitization to climax the training program. The participants were taught how to create fire belts and military drilling exercise in response to rapid fire outbreaks in their communities and their surroundings.

The fire volunteer squads training program which was the first in a series, is expected to be replicated in other communities upon a successful implementation of the project, according to officials of the District Assembly. 

The WMDA with support from the Hanns-Seidel Foundation (HSF) in September last year launched a nine-month climate change adaptation and mitigation project, under which the district was expected to adopt reforestation initiatives in the Mishio and Zua communities aimed at fighting climate change and land degradation which are said to be severe in those areas. 

Annual devastating bushfires in Northern Ghana usually begins in the month of November and intensifies in December to February. The practice usually result in the destruction of not only tree vegetation cover but also both harvested and non harvested farm produce, thereby causing food insecurity among the already impoverished Northern rural communities. 

Meanwhile, at the end of the training, each fire volunteer received a pair of wellington boots, cutlass, fire protective clothing and hand gloves as their individual fire-fighting equipment.  

The District Chief Executive for West Mamprusi District Assembly, Adam Yussif, reminded the two communities that the dry season was the peak of bushfires and urged them to be committed in the fight against bushfires so that the little farm produce that had been harvested by farmers will not go waste. 

The DCE also advised the two communities not to farm close to the river banks and cautioned them to give proper care to the tree seedlings planted along the White Volta River in order to achieve the goals of the project. 

For his part, the District Fire Officer Alexander Amoah, explained that the exposure of Northern Ghana to wildfires stemmed from the single rainfall season that the area experiences during the whole year. 

According to him, the protracted dry season which follows the short rainy season causes the Savannah grass to wither and render it susceptible to the least spark of fire. “Judging by the annual devastation caused by bushfires, there is the urgent need for all stakeholders to jointly find feasible solutions to this perennial problem” Mr. Amoah added. 

The West Mamprusi District Fire Officer was hopeful that the training would go a long way to reduce the wide spread bushfires in the area and the Northern Region as a whole.

Climate Change Project In WMDA Supports Alternative Livelihood Options

By Joseph Ziem

Many environmentalists have in recent times contended that in the wake of climate change or global warming with its accompanying debilitating effects on agriculture, farmers should adapt to ruminants’ production as a measure to supplement food requirements in their households since the effects of climate change on animal production is lesser as compared to crop farming.

It is therefore, not surprising that a climate change project being implemented in the West Mamprusi District Assembly (WMDA) in the Northern Region of Ghana to combat deforestation and desertification effects, has introduced what it call “Alternative Livelihood Options” intended to assist communities engaged in the project through ruminant production.

With a grant of GH¢80,000.00 from the Hanns Seidel Foundation, a German non-governmental organisation, the Assembly has since last year undertaken series of reforestation programs as part of the project implementation in Zua and Mishio, two communities located along the White Volta River of the West Mamprusi District. 

The focus of these activities were intended to increase tree population to combat desertification, protecting the White Volta River and further contribute to the global efforts in the fight against climate change in the district. 

As part of the initiative, the two communities were mobilized to undertake the creation of tree nursery to grow tree plants, planting, watering and protecting the trees planted along the White Volta River to serve as a shield to the 50 meter buffer zone required by law along every river bank.

However, one component of the project implementation plan stipulates that members of the two communities’ who are directly involved in the above activities should be supported with some form of environmentally friendly alternative livelihood activity:

1.   

 As West Mamprusi District project participation incentive to compensate for their whole time and resources devoted in the execution of the project

2. As suitable alternative livelihood activity that would reduce they (community members) over-dependency on the natural vegetation, recognizing the fact that the depletion of the natural vegetation is directly linked to the survival of the community members.  

In an interview with the Project Officer, Issifu Sulemana, he told this writer that members of the two communities would be supported with Ten Thousand and Sixty Ghana cedis (GH¢10,060.00) from the GH¢80,000.00 project fund. 

According to him, the amount would be used to purchase and transport livestock such as goats and sheep and given to the people to enable them become food sufficient and financially independent. 

The activity targets all community members made up of farmers who farm along the river banks, fishermen, as well as women and men actively involved in the project implementation, he stressed. 

The objective of this activity, Mr. Sulemana explained, is also to support committed community members in goat and sheep production to enable them supply farmyard manure to feed an organic agriculture programme to be introduced in the two communities.

A ten (10) member committee made up of five women and five men would be charged with the responsibility of procuring local breeds of promising high rate returns, under the close supervision of project supervisors.

The animals would be distributed to the people to take home and take good care of them under an intensive care system so as not to let them loose and destroy the very reforestation project being implemented in their communities.

The capacity of these beneficiaries would also be built on the basic principles of animal management/husbandry. An estimated 60 individuals, 30 from each community are expected to benefit from the package as against 40 originally planned, Mr. Sulemana disclosed.

The increased in the number, according to the Project Officer, is due to the fact that more community members showed interest and demonstrated their commitment. Adding that, each person would be entitled to two female and one male animal making it a total of three. 

The selection criteria Mr. Sulemana explained would be based on commitment to work throughout the project implementation. Gender consideration as a criterion would be strictly adhered to, to ensure that the package benefits both men and women equally.