Mr. Tony Blair was responding to a letter of complaint written to his government by the UK Branch of BONABOTO during the recent state visit to that country by Ghana's President, Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor.
Mr. David Atugiya, secretary, BONABOTO UK, has told Public Agenda that the British Government responded positively to their demands. "BONABOTO-UK is in receipt of two letters, one from the Deputy Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. John Prescott and the other from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The two letters confirmed BONABOTO-UK's assertion that there is no equitable distribution with the north in particular marginalised ," said Mr. Atugiya in a statement to this paper.
Blair said, it was in recognition of the inequity between the north and the south that the UK government through its Department for International Development (DFID) since 2003 provided over £110 million to the Ghanaian government to help address the geographic inequality, which researchers predict could drive Ghana to a destructive civil conflict.
"The verdict of the British Government on the case of the poverty reduction in Ghana is that 'the British Government is aware of the fact that the significant progress on poverty reduction in Ghana is not always equally distributed geographically", says Atugiya.
BONABOTO UK, a voluntary organisation of the people of Bolgatanga, Bongo and Talensi-Nabdam Districts of the Upper Region of Ghana, wrote the protest on March 13, 2007 asking Prime Minister Blair and the UK Government to put pressure on president Kufuor to organise a stakeholders' conference on the three northern regions. The purpose of the conference would be to develop a blue print for a 10 year development plan for northern Ghana aimed at bridging the current development gap.
It also demanded the British government to help redress regional inequality created by the colonial authorities by targeting development aid to northern Ghana as outlined in the African Commission Report put together by the British Government.
"Whatever contributions and pressure the British government can bring to bear on the Ghana government will contribute towards some fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Ghana's development as a whole that the British government is so passionate about," the letter stated.
"We in believe that northern Ghana has had a raw deal from NPP Government as far as the HIPC and MCA funds are concerned. This is because the Kufour led NPP Government has been fortunate to have had direct funding from the UK Government and other donor countries through Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) funds to specifically address poverty."
"With over £110 million since 2003 from the UK Government alone, if this was divided according to the GPRS formula, the three northern regions which have been classified as the poorest would have had £52.8 million (48%) budget allocation since 2003 from Central Government to alleviate poverty in the three regions", says the statement.
Interestingly, the letters from the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign and Commonwealth Office also bring to light the fact that the British Government has funded a Northern Economic Growth Study in 2006, which examined whether there was growth potential in the North and if so how to stimulate it.
According to the two letters, the major conclusion from the study is that northern Ghana has economic growth potential and the discourse on development of the north must be based on economic growth. BONBOTO-UK wonders how northern Ghana's economic growth potential can be achieved with the deliberate discrimination and institutional marginalisation as far as HIPC and MCA funds and central government resource allocations are concerned.
The evidence and facts highlighted in the British Government's response to the letter of BONABOTO-UK, strengthens the belief by the people of northern Ghana that there is institutional discrimination and marginalisation against them. The case of northern Ghana as BONABOTO-UK and the people of the North see it is not poverty, but purely deprivation and discrimination and this must stop.
BONABOTO-UK therefore is calling on all northerners, friends and supporters of Northern Ghana for urgent formation of a movement to intensify the fight and struggle for equity, justice and economic emancipation for the people of Northern Ghana.
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