Mr. Iddrisu Bediako "Polo" Ahmed, the Upper West Regional Director of the National Sports Authority (NSA) has called on the MTN, a telecommunication giant and its partners, Suncity Radio, to make the annual health walk programme a regular feature on their calendar.
He said the exercise would help bring to Ghanaians ample health benefits.
Mr. Ahmed, popularly known in sports circles as “Polo,” made the call at the closing session of the 4th Annual Savanna Festival, dubbed: “MTN – Savana Fest, 2015,” held in Wa, the Upper West Regional capital.
He said in view of the enormous revitalization, the event brings to participants to improve their health status and contribute positively to the community and national development, through increased productivity, the organizers would be doing a lot of more good, if the programme was held monthly or quarterly.
“I believe MTN and its partners have the ability and capacity to organize the event on regular basis than the current yearly activity, in order to make a more positive impact on the people and the nation’s economy.” Polo noted.
The Regional NSA Boss was however, full of praise for MTN and Suncity Radio, for championing a worthy course and urged other corporate institutions to lend their support to make the programme for the growth and development of Ghana and its people.
“Let’s make the slogan; ‘A healthy people make a wealthy nation,’ more practicable and achievable by contributing our widows’ mite to augment the efforts of MTN and Suncity Radio.” He concluded.
People from all walks of life participated in the walk which took them through some principal streets of Wa, and later went through some aerobics to exercise their muscles to be in good shape for healthy living.
A cross section of the participants interviewed, commended MTN for bringing some life into their lives by this annual event and urged them (MTN) and other stakeholders to keep up the spirit. Some of them testified that, since the inception of the event, four years ago, they have developed the habit of exercising regularly to improve their health conditions.
“I used to pick taxis to and from my shop which is about 800 meters away from my home, but for the past one year, I have been doing this on foot, thanks to MTN health walk programme I have saved a lot of money to improve my business and I feel smarter now.“ An obese female trader who spoke to GNA on conditions of anonymity.
Most student participants remarked that the exercise has greatly improved their health status, felt sharper.
Participants were generally of the view that though a worthy and a laudable initiative, MTN could still do better by providing enough souvenirs to motivate more people to show up and sustain interest in the programme.
Health walk is one of the three major activities organized annually by MTN and Suncity Radio to celebrate the loyalty of the people in the savanna region of Ghana, for their unflinching loyalty to the company, hence the tag, “MTN – Savana Fest”.
The month long celebration was crowned with the Wa edition of the inter – community soccer gala competition which was won by the Dokpong community.
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