The President, Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo-Addo has appealed to traditional leaders to get involved in the fight against the illicit smuggling of the subsidised fertilizers under the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Programme.
He expressed worry that the inputs, which were meant to cushion famers in the country to increase their production as part of measures to boost their income and to provide jobs, were smuggled to other countries by few greedy people.
The president made the appeal in Wa on Tuesday when he called on the Wa Naa, Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo IV as part of his two-day working visit to the Upper West Region.
“I appeal to the elders and traditional leaders of the area to assist the police and security forces to cup in on the smuggling of fertilizers out of our country.
“It is not right that inputs of agriculture that are for use by the Ghanaian tax payer to find their way into other countries largely because of the greed of a few criminal elements in our society, it is not right”, the President said.
He said the smuggling of the fertilizers was the cause of its shortage in the region, but said he would communicate to the Minister of Agriculture on the shortage for immediate redress.
President Akuffo-Addo also promised to ensure that the construction of the fence wall for the Jamiat Islamic Girls Senior High School took effect immediately to help ensure security at the school.
The President also commended the chiefs and people of Wa for accepting the apology of the military high command on the military brutalities in Wa on Thursday, July 1, 2021 and ensuring peace prevailed.
On his part, Naa Pelpuo appealed to the President to improve on the infrastructure base of the Wa Senior High School and the only two tertiary institutions in the region, the SDD-UBIDS and Dr. Hilla Limann Technical University.
The revered chief also reminded the President of the need to construct a dual carriage road from Bamahu through the Insurance Road to DVLA to help improve sanity on that stretch.
Other request Wa Naa made included establishment of Polyclinics at Boli and Busa, elevation of the Wa Municipality to a Metropolis and creation of a constituency from the current Wa Municipality.
The President was in the region to, among other things, commission a Business Resource Centre at Tumu and inspect some on-going projects in Nandom among others.
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