Mr. Mahmud Khalid, Upper West Regional Minister has appealed to Chiefs, District Chief Executives (DCEs) and opinion leaders in the Sissala West
District to seek arbitration on all disputes rather than contesting them at the court.
He said issues such as land disputes were very sensitive and if not carefully handled could
turn into serious conflicts and this according to him were capable of drawing development of the district backwards.
Mr. Khalid who was addressing the third ordinary meeting of the Sissala West District
Assembly at Gwollu on Wednesday said that everybody had the right to go to court but not
when the case he or she was going to contest was inimical to the progress and development of the district and the region at large.
The Minister, therefore, urged the people to resolve their differences and come together to
find a peaceful and lasting solution to land disputes to enable the Assembly to fully carry out
its development plans for next year without any hindrance.
He deplored dishonesty revenue collection saying some collectors were in the habit of
diverting funds largely through under-declaring and urged the assembly to set up a standing
revenue monitoring team to check such practices.
With regards to the data collecting processes, the Minister appealed to the members of the house to fully participate in the preparation of the District Medium-Term
Development plan under the Medium-Term Development Framework for the 2010/13 exercise.
He said this would ensure that prioritize projects in the local areas were fully incorporated into the plan to give it a much broader appeal and enhance easy facilitation.
He also urged the assembly members to encourage the youth to avail themselves of the
eleven new modules that had been added to the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) and the block farming concept.
On the recent reports of unrest in the district, the Minister appealed to the people and the Police personnel to put the past behind them, eschew mutual mistrust and work together to
attain a crime free and peaceful environment needed for human growth.
Mr. Robert Wavei, the DCE, said the Assembly failed to achieve its revenue targets because of its was over ambitious exaggerated adding, they were set without the corresponding enthusiasm to reach them.
He explained that the Assembly had set its target at an amount of 44,730.00 Ghana cedis but was able to gather only 36,572.75 Ghana cedis between January and November.
Not withstanding the weak and threatening financial position of the Assembly, the DCE
said the Assembly had carried out a number of developmental projects with support from various external sources.