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The Upper West Regional caucus of Parliament has called for an even distribution of the national resources to ensure equity in the provision of educational infrastructure in the country.
The caucus was particularly concerned about the lack of infrastructure at the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS) and said there should be a deliberate attempt by the government to bring it on par with other public universities in the country.
The members, therefore, pledged to be the voice of the university and champion its cause and ensure that it received the necessary support to develop and expand to be fully and to increase its intake.
The chairman of the caucus, which is the association of all Members of Parliament from the UWR, Dr Sebastien Sandaare, MP for Daffiama-Bussie-Issa, made the pledge when the caucus visited the campus of the university on April 8, 2025, to acquaint itself with the development and challenges facing it.
While admitting that resources were scarce and as such there would be the need to judiciously manage the little available, he, however, believed that SDD-UBIDS should be given resources commensurate with its name.
Briefing the University management, Dr Sandaare said over the years, the MPs only busied themselves with the peculiar needs of their constituencies and championed them.
However, this year, he said the caucus had decided to pursue some of the needs of the region and as such decided to visit some of the regional institutions to interact with them and know how they could be of help to them.
Dr Sandaare said it was important as the representatives of the people; they helped in the development of the regional institutions for the benefit of their people.
The members of the delegation included the MP for Lawra, Bede Ziedeng, MP for Nandom, Dr Richard Kuuire, the MP for Wa West Peter Lanchene Toobu and the MP for Sissala East, Issa Mohammed Bataglia.
In his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Emmanuel Derbile, said there were a number of Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) projects on campus that had stalled for more than 15 years and called for the support of the caucus to complete them.
The stalled projects include the construction of a library complex, a three-storey lecture and office complex, the construction of a two-storey hall of residence and the construction of a multipurpose auditorium, all estimated to cost about GHc178 million.
As part of the measures to meet the infrastructure needs of the university, he said management decided to implement the Accelerated GETFund Infrastructure Completion Initiative, where the university used part of its internally generated funds and raised other funds from its pension fund to complete the project, subject to GETFund reimbursement.
