The Upper East Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, has announced that the allocation for the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) project in the region has almost doubled for 2024. Apexnewsgh reports Speaking during his maiden engagement with journalists, the Minister revealed that the allocation has increased to GH160,710,937.10 for the implementation of 323 sub-projects and over 200 software projects. The SOCO project, funded by the World Bank, aims to reduce vulnerabilities and climate change among other objectives. The project has employed 2,500 unskilled laborers and 132 community facilitators, and has supported 300 VSLA and farmer groups. The Minister also highlighted the challenges of land acquisition in the region, citing the difficult land tenure system. However, he noted that the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) has collaborated with stakeholders to facilitate the construction of various projects, including the SOCO Zonal Office, Passport Office, Labour Office, Minerals Commission, and WFP/UN House. The SOCO project has been dubbed a “game changer” for the people of the north, given the significant investment and impact on the region. The Minister expressed optimism that the project would bring about meaningful development to the region. Source: Apexnewsgh.com Thanks for reading from Apexnewsgh as a news publishing website from Ghana. We encourage you to freely share this story via social media platform and follow us on; Facebook on APEXNEWSGH-Tv or Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0248250270/0256336062.
Read one of the interesting reasons why the Upper East Region was and still underdeveloped
A well-known social activist Mr. Yen Nyeya has revealed, that one of the top-notch reasons why the north and more especially Upper East Region is underdeveloped was as a result of the activities of the colonial authorities. Apexnewsgh.com report Mr. Nyeya made the interesting revelation during an exclusive interview with Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen of Apexnewsgh.com on Friday, February 3, 2023. Answering a question about the underdevelopment bedeviling the Upper East region, the social activist said: “When it comes to the Upper East Region or the north in particular, what happened is that during the colonial rule, the north specifically was created as a reservoir of labour. That meant that the colonial authorities by time realized that they were numerous natural resources. So, the idea was to preserve the north as a labour force to go down to the south and provide labour for the south, so that the colonial authorities will extract as much wealth as possible. So, the north was deliberately underdeveloped and that is why up till now, you would find out that a lot of people from the north especially the Upper East Region go down to the south to work. He explained He further added, that region only witnessed some developmental projects after independence, “we were lucky that we had Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who was much more developmental and he brought about Free Education, Free Medical Health and we have even found out that he even set up factories in this region. We had the Meat Factory, we had the Tomatoes Factory, we had the Rice Mill and he made Bolgatanga the capital because incidentally, Bolgatanga is the center of the town”. Unfortunately for us, there was a coup on 24th February 1966 and Nkrumah’s big projects stopped until Achampong came. Mr. Nyeya to Apexnewsgh.com For publication please kindly contact us on +233256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Let’s stop the unnecessary dirty tribal politics and come together—Tangoba Abayage
Former Upper East Regional Minister Hon. Tangoba Abayage has extended her call for the region’s development to well-meaning residents of the Upper East living both in home and abroad Ghana’s former ambassador to Italy made the important call during an engagement with Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen on Apexnewsgh.com’s flagship programme which bothers on development dubbed: ‘SPEAKOUT UPPER EAST’ on Wednesday, January 18, 2023. Hon. Tangoba who was responding to the question on why he chose to open a modern school for children in the region instead of a more open city like Accra or Kumasi said, she was born in a very poor home and I had decided to contribute to the lives others when she became a better person. She said, it has been her dream to open a school for her people. She further stated, Upper East Region is the only region they have as a people and they must try to make it a better place to live. She however, advised residents of the region to consider coming back home to invest: “If you have money apart from where you are staying try and come home and put up something nice in your community, if you have money to invest and you have trusted people you can trust, come back home to help develop the region”. She advised “Government can only do its bit, government cannot do it all. We are not a communist country, we are a capitalist country”. She noted, that unnecessary dirty politics is bedeviling the development of the region: “Let’s stop this unnecessary dirty tribal politics, traditional politics and mainstream politics, let’s stop it and come together as one group of people that have a region to develop and let us do that with passion. Let our passion supersede, override our personal individualistic desires”. She advises Source: Apexnewsgh.com/GhanaFor publication please kindly contact us on +233256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Pull Down syndrome the cause of underdeveloped Upper East Region
The founder of the National Liberation Congress (NLC) Stephen Atubiga has revealed that Upper East Region is not developed because the people are good at pulling themselves down than helping one another. Mr. Atubiga made the pronouncement during an engagement on Apexnewsgh.com dubbed; SPEAKOUT UPPER EAST’ on Friday, January 13, 2023, a developmental programme introduced to look into issues that bother on development in the region. The underdevelopment in the region has become a headache to most patriotic citizens who want the Upper East as one of the oldest regions to be a better place. Things that are known to be common in some other regions in Ghana such as airports, sports stadiums, passport offices etc, cannot be seen in the Upper east region. Meanwhile, asking the NLC founder Mr. Atubiga his view on the worrying situation bedeviling the region’s development, he said:“Is unfortunate that we come from a region people are good at pulling each other down than helping others, a region where we don’t pick each other like the way the southerners do to their people. We are from a region, very poor and we are the best to stab each other in the back. We are from a region where, instead of supporting a neighbor, we support a neighbor because we think we want to have some benefit in a particular political party. We are from a region where we are very wicked to our own selves. The best thing we want to see is when our northern brother fails. We are not united, we have put that brotherly love aside, and everybody cares about their stomach”. He stressed He further added “Territorial interest is also what is killing us. If you look at the region, chieftaincy issues which has transcended down and if we are not careful, because of the intermarriages, Upper east will be left behind”. A young man has no future for anyone to look up to in our region because you are not his child. They have allowed our pocket to determine who to sit with. Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Desist from things that will destroy your lives—Yaw Mort appeal to youth
Meanwhile, Mr. Mort acknowledged the poverty level in the region as the cause for the increasing youth involvement in smoking and drinking alcohol in the region. Insisting that such an attitude is not something that propels a region into prosperity. The former Regional Organizer for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Mr. Yaw Mort has extended his appeal to the youth in the Upper East Region to desist from destroying themselves with the dangerous intake of alcohol. Apexnewsgh.com report “I will appeal to our youth to desist from things that will destroy their lives especially alcoholism and another thing that is coming up in the system has to do with this energy drink that has come, it is something that is destroying lives and I think people don’t know about it. Our young ones always add certain drugs into them and when they drink it, it will ginger them to do things they ought not to be doing. I will appeal to the youth to see it that, those things are not good and they should desist from them”. He appealed to the youth to stop lavishing their lives unnecessarily and invest in wrestling and footballing because is another area the youth could channel their attention to as far as making huge money for themselves is concerned. “I will also appeal to our youth to develop an interest in sporting activities. Because, if they are involved in sporting activity, they would see that they will not like all these smoking and alcoholism because when the heart is active, the appetite of smoking and drinking alcohol will not come”. He appealed “Youth in the region should get themselves something doing, they should not relent at all. They should involve themselves such as boxing, wrestling, and footballing to keep themselves going”. He advised Also, talking about the health benefit, Mr. Mort reveals that young men who are engaged in sporting activities hardly fall sick of high BP or any other minor sicknesses. However, he also appeals to the people of the Upper East Region to make sure they avoid anything that will cause fire outbreaks, especially during the season of harmattan. Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Bawku Clash: Lives lost in renewed Bawku clash
A renewed ethnic clash in Bawku in the Upper East Region according to sources has claimed more than 5 lives in a Sunday clash between to the main factions Kusasis and Mamprusis. Apexnewsgh.com report According to information coming the area, the clash resurrected as a result of an alleged killing of an old man at Natinga on Saturday, December 17, 2022, which resulted in sporadic gunshots leaving five persons dead. The clash between the two factions however travel to Sunday, December 18, 2022, which resulted to the death of some other persons. Bawku conflict has become a worry to the region due to the continue killing of especially innocent people for no crime caused. However, when this platform contacted the Upper East Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP David Fianko-Okyere, on the unfortunate development, he said he has not been given any information with regards to the incident. Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Auditor’s General Report: Tempane District Assembly lavished GHc 27, 201.00 on DCE’s Bungalow renovation
According to the 2021 Auditors General report, it has been revealed that the Tempane District Assembly made a payment of GH¢27,201.00 to a contractor in charge of the renovation of the Temapne District Chief Executive Bungalow at Kugrago, for no work done. Apexnewsgh.com report The report says, “Regulation 78 of the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I.2378) states, a Principal Spending Officer of a covered entity is personally responsible for ensuring in respect of each payment of that covered entity the validity, accuracy and legality of the claim for the payment”. “We noted during the projects inspection that, even though certain aspects of the bill of quantities for the renovation of the Tempane District Chief Executive’s Bungalow at Kugrago was not executed by the contractor as confirmed by the Assembly’s monitoring report, the Assembly paid the sum of GH¢168,111.30 instead of GH¢140,910.30 resulting in payment of GH¢27,201.00 for works not executed”. However, the Auditor General has recommended for the recovery of the amount paid for work not done from the contractor, failure of which the amount be recovered from the District Coordinating Director, the District Finance Officer and the Works Engineer. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/ Tempane District A-G’s Report/Upper East Region E:mail: Apexnewsgh@gmail.com Contact: 0256336062
Just In: President Akufo-Addo expected in Upper East on 4th August
According to the Upper East Regional Communication Director for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Peter Ayinbisa, if nothing changed as planned, President Akufo-Addo will be in the region on August 4, 2022. He said President’s scheduled visit is a resumption of his regular regional tours to engage people and also have accurate information on happening on the ground. However, according to the Regional Communication Director, the President has scheduled to be in the region on the 4th of August and on the 5th of August, he is expected to commission a rice factory project in Fumbisi and after that, will be holding a mini durbar of chiefs and the people of Fumbisi and later proceed to Navrongo and also have a mini durbar with the chiefs and the people. The President’s coming to the region came when a lot of citizens questioned what the government has offered the people of the Upper East. During Apexnewsgh.com exclusive interview granted to the Executive Director and founder of Sirigu Women’s Organisation for Pottery and Arts (SWOPA) Madam Melanie Kasise, she appeared specific by asking President Akufo-Addo to come and see his people in the Upper East Region. She said the region is nothing seeing any development under his watch. Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana
UER: Educated personalities, MPs, directors, and NGOs are the cause of the Regional underdevelopment—Balungu Chief.
Chief of Balungu a community in the traditional area in the Upper East Region Naba John Attia (Wmaribilsonga Niitinga/Putisonne maaletinga) says the underdevelopment bedeviling the people of the Region is a self-inflected one by the people themselves. Naba Attia made the interesting revelation on Saturday, July 9, 2022, when the Apexnewsgh.com crew visited his palace to digest issues of development relating to his traditional area and the region at large. However, sharing his views on the nature of underdevelopment bedeviling the region over the years, the chief did not miss words. He said: “I don’t blame anybody, I blame ourselves. Now, look at Bolga, look at Bawku, and look at Doba and Kandiga. It is our own people, our educated people, our MPs, our brothers who are directors and so on, they have let Upper East down”. Naba John also holds the view that those operating Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the region have done the region more bad than good, especially with the huge resources they are receiving from their outside donors. An area he challenges the media to research and come out with the revelations. He insisted that those handling the donor’s dollars in the region are not Ashanti’s or the people from Ga but insisting they are from the region. “NGOs dollars, all those monies are handled by our own brothers and sisters here. Go and see, what are they using the money for? We have money more than Upper West when it comes to NGOs. NGOs started coming here when Upper West didn’t have NGOs. If you want to do research and look at the number of dollars that have entered Upper East here, those monies were not handled by Ashanti’s, we always say Ashanti’s are cheating us, they were not handled by Ga’s, they were handled by our own people here”. Naba John insisted Over a period, Apexnewsgh.com as a developmental-oriented online platform interested in the development of the Upper East Region has reported some of the gaps, when it comes to developmental achievement between some other regions and the Upper East region, especially with Upper West Region as a basis. The basic and common research conducted by ApexnewsGh shows that Upper West got their stadium with 5,000 capacity in 2006 whereas, Upper East Region has none, the last time we checked, the people of Kassena Nankana East Municipality were protesting for the completion of their abandoned sports stadium after 4 years of promising to hand it over to them as a valentine gift. Also, research by ApexnewsGh shows that the people of Upper West opened their airport for commercial flight operations on October 15, 2019, with service by Africa World Airlines from Accra via Tamale using an Embraer 145 regional jet. In the Upper East, the Airport promises brought division and unfortunately ended regrettably without even a drone center for the region. However, research by ApexnewsGh also shows that the people of the Upper West Region commissioned their Passport Application Center (PAC) in 2020 which is actively in use at this point. In the Upper East Region, the story is different. It took ApexnewsGh report in October 2021 and a follow-up to the authority. Then, in March the region received funding support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to begin construction of a passport office. The construction is supposed to last for 3 months and as we write, is already 5 months the construction is still not completed following the land owner’s demands for land settlement. According to Apexnewsgh.com research, the 160-bed capacity Upper West Regional Hospital was made open to the general public on January 9, 2020, even after a little delay. Because President Akufo Addo earlier commissioned the US$ 52 million facilities in August 2019. Whereas, in the case of the Upper East Region, the $20 million between the government of Ghana and Saudi Arabia in 2019 for the completion of Bolgatanga Regional Hospital was truncated and it has since ended on that note without achieving the regional hospital agenda. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Churn-out credible and development oriented information –Stephen Yakubu to GJA Executives
The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Stephen Yakubu has called on journalists in the Region to churn-out credible and development-oriented information to help propel development in the Region. He said the citizenry depended on the media for credible information on happenings in the country to enable them make informed decisions. “For this country to move forward and develop, journalists are the ones to let everyone know what information is good or bad and how to put it out there,” he noted. Mr. Yakubu made the call when the newly elected executives of the Regional chapter of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), led by its Chair, Mr. William Jalula called on him to introduce themselves. The Minister called for collaboration and support from the GJA to work as development partners, saying “We need to work together as a region to find solutions to the problems that face us.” He said the problems in the region were self-induced, including the politicisation of every development issue, tribal conflicts, and cited the Bawku, Doba and Kandiga intermittent conflicts that drained the coffers of the respective Assemblies and retarded development. Mr. Yakubu said the Region had enough resources that could be tapped to solve the development needs of the people, and therefore urged the media to rally behind the government to achieve the development agenda of the country. Mr Jalula on his part, urged journalists to be circumspect in their reportage, and avoid taking sides in the course of their work. He appealed to the Regional Minister to pay attention to some road networks, the street and traffic lighting systems which he noted were faulty and did not befit the status of the Regional capital, Bolgatanga. The GJA Chairman proposed that drivers and motorists who knocked down the street and traffic lights should be arrested and made to pay for the damage caused. He appealed to the Minister to practice an open door administration, and encourage the various Municipal and District Chief Executives across the Region to practice same, so that journalists could cross-check their stories before they published. Source: Apexnewsgh.com









