THE SAD SADA STORY. MY TAKE!

In recent times, i feel very reluctant to place any significant value on most of the work journalists in this country do. My reluctance stems from the fact that, most of these journalists have watered down their conscience to an extent that, a few cedis can make them call their mothers thieves.

But following Manasseh Azure Awuni and a few others, i dare say that there is some hope left and i hope this hope doesn't turn hopeless.

With the commendation he has received so far in his budding career as a journalist by his peers and notably the 'incorruptible' Komla Dumor (may his soul rest in peace), perhaps, i will be safe in placing him among those journalists who work with an unadulterated conscience. Maybe his resolve to expose, stems from the struggles he and his family went through growing up and who better to revenge on than the people charged to make society fair, the politician. For me, that is good motivation. I hear the president of the Republic has also commended him. I am safe then!!!

The first time I travelled north was late last year, Savelugu, was the place I sojourned. The experience was both bitter and sweet. The bitter part was that, I was involved in a horrific accident. The car that had given me a lift from Savelugu to Tamale to board a bus down south knocked and killed instantly a young man in his teens that appeared from nowhere and crossed the road. I dread that day!!!

The sweet part was that, as a sustainable environmental resource development/management practitioner, I saw the oodles of opportunities that exist up north which can significantly transform the north and turn the tide of north-south migration to south-north migration with the right action plan and most importantly, the right execution plan.

The Savannah Accelerated Development plan was one such plan and it bleeds my heart to read and listen to the coverage it has received these past few weeks. In this instance, the plan was good but the execution leaves so much to be desired.

For such a developmental programs, the last group of people you would want to task with execution is politicians. I can say and without any equivocation, that in Ghana, less than 1% of our politicians wake up thinking about how to better the lives of the citizenry and so employing politicians masquerading as technocrats will result in what we all read and hear about SADA today.

With development programs in the make of SADA, another mistake to avoid is HASTE. Meticulous preparation anchored on sound scientific research should be the blood that sends oxygen to every part of the program. Particularly, the enormity of the developmental problems faced by the north would have required a great deal of research work to get all the nuances right before execution. If we took research serious, we would know when to plant trees, which species to plant, how to make them grow,etc.

From my perspective, this program though well-conceived was rushed for which reason you and I are so much aware, political expediency and this reason is just not good enough.

In every developmental intervention, the most important stakeholders are the people who the intervention is targeted. Their involvement is absolutely critical if any success is to be achieved.

Eliminating or even partially involving them in the program will be akin to trying to sell ice to an Eskimo, what a waste of time!!!. You never presume to know what their problem is, ask them to know, solicit their input in fashioning out solutions, period! There are a lot of questions to ask about the involvement of the very people who need this intervention. The indications I get from the reports I have read concerning this programme points to a rather unfortunate exclusion/partial involvement of these critical stakeholders.

The above are just basics that ought to be right from the start.

On the issue of corruption, at least we all can make our minds in the face of all the ‘pink sheets’ available to us, courtesy, Manasseh. I will not make any rash conclusions as to who stole what or who did not steal what but I am convinced some people stole something and I hope for the sake of the people of the North, who suffer so much hardships day in day out, these thieves are brought to justice.

Lastly, it is an established fact that the top brass of SADA since its inception have been from the North. I know that ,perhaps, this may have been for very good reasons but it is also a very sordid reminder that, sometimes a friend may be better than a brother. We should as a people go for competence rather than other considerations that will not get the job done.

With all the rot that has gone on at SADA and the absence of any meaningful response from the outfit, I cannot help but say that, it is sad to have your own brother steal so much from the very thing that could have changed your life. To all those who have been involved in the stealing and looting, ask yourself this simple question, HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?