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The Upper East Regional Secretariat of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of failing to honour promises to the people in the region.

According to the NPP, the failure of President John Mahama to visit the region as part of his ‘Accounting to the People Tour’ from June 6-8, 2016 was to avoid embarrassment due to the neglect of the region under his government.

At a press conference in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Regional Chairman of the NPP, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim Murtala, alleged that the scheduled tour was later postponed indefinitely because there was nothing for the President to inaugurate.

"It is mind-boggling to note that the Upper East Region has not seen any major development project throughout the seven-and-a-half year rule of the NDC government," Mr Murtala observed.

He said despite the fact that the region had consistently shown so much commitment to the electoral fortunes of the NDC, culminating in the NDC gaining 14 out of the 15 seats in the region with the NPP getting only one seat, the various constituencies had been neglected and starved of the needed development.

Failed promises

Mr Murtala pointed out that the failed promise to construct the Bolgatanga-Bawku road which connected the two major commercial cities in the region was one of the reasons.

According to the regional chairman,the promise to build a new regional hospital for the region has not been fulfilled either, saying “what we now see is essentially a continuation of the expansion works started by the NPP in relation to the existing Bolgatanga Municipal Hospital”.

He said the failure to honour the promises to revamp the Pwalugu Tomato and Zuarungu Meat factories, and the construction of the Bolgatanga airstrip, the Bolgatanga Sports Complex and the Bolgatanga Polyclinic were all indications that the NDC government had failed to develop the region.

Additionally, Mr Murtala noted that the failure of the Mahama-led administration to complete a single senior high school in the region as part of his 200 community day SHS projects for the entire country was worrying.

NDC reacts

But in a rebuttal, the Deputy Upper East Regional Secretary of the NDC, Mr Thomas Abiola, debunked the allegations and explained that the government had initiated a number of projects and fulfilled about 80 per cent of its campaign promises in the region.

Mr Abiola stated that two contractors would move to site this week to start rehabilitation work on the Bawku-Bolgatanga road. The deputy regional secretary further indicated that the Bolgatanga-Bongo road, the Winkogo-Tongo and the Navrongo-Tono roads had all been completed.

He said the urban water expansion project at Navrongo was almost completed while more than 58 boreholes had been constructed for the Garu and Tempane districts.

Mr Abiola said the Fumbisi Valley was being cleared for farmers to go into large-scale commercial rice farming while a warehouse to store vegetables had been completed at Navrongo.