President John Evans Atta Mills began his thank- you-tour of Upper East Region on Wednesday with a message of hope - 'Government has the capacity to resolve your problems and improve on your standard of living'.
President Mills, who was speaking during a courtesy call on Bolganaba Martin Abilba III, Paramount Chief of Bolgatanga Traditional Area, in Bolgatanga, said the people of the Region would be given the necessary support to use their talents and natural resources to build a better Ghana.
He explained that he was paying a two-day working visit to the Region to thank the people for voting massively for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and entrusting the leadership of the country into his hands.
President Mills said he would use the opportunity to interact with the Chiefs and people in the Region to know how they were getting on, the challenges of life they were facing and discuss how best they could overcome them.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo, who earlier briefed President Mills on the challenges confronting the Region, said the area lacked proper infrastructure; had poor road network; lacked appropriate buildings for office and residential accommodation, schools and health institutions.
He complained about the lack of Medical Officers, especially specialists to man the Regional and District Hospitals, saying the workload was too much for the few personnel, who accepted postings to the Region, adding that the trend was having a negative impact on the health of the people.
Mr Woyongo called for the decentralization of the awards of contracts for the construction of dams, which the Government has earmarked for the Region as part of its agriculture expansion and food security programme, arguing that when competent local contractors were selected it would engender effective supervision.
He indicated that some projects awarded by the previous Government had come to a standstill and called for their immediate review to determine whether they were worth completing.
Mr Woyongo said stringent measures have been put in place to check the smuggling of fuel into neighbouring countries including the formation of volunteer groups; the ban on the use of jerrycan and other containers to buy fuel and the posting of security personnel to keep 24-hour surveillance at filling stations to ensure that the practice was halted.
President Mills would later in the day hold a series of meetings with the Paramount Chief of the Bawku Traditional Area, Naba Asigri Abugrago II and Leaders of various religions in the Region.