Why Alleviating Poverty In The North of Ghana Is Important

It is said that the devil finds work for idle hands. The lack of employment opportunities in the three northern regions of Ghana is at the heart of the frequent acts of violence there.

Every single case in which gunmen attack a rural community,  in any of the three northern regions, which is reported in the Ghanaian media, ought to be a matter of grave  concern to all Ghanaians.

 A recent example,  was a murderous raid on smallholder farmers in Babimsurugu, a village near Nakapanduri, in the Northern Region. They were attacked by gunmen - who dismembered the body of  one of the farmers, Mr. Sagark Danaaba, shortly after shooting him.

 What should be of concern to all Ghanaians,  is that it is  but a small step from the barbarity of attacking defenceless smallholder farmers with impunity, in the north of our country, to participating in random acts of terrorism across Ghana, at the behest of a Boko Haram-style terrorist organisation out to destabalise our country  for its own ends.

The virus-of-madness driving Boko Haram's senseless killings in Nigeria must be prevented from infecting desperate people in Ghana at all costs. That is why something must be done about alleviating poverty in the three northern regions.

Perhaps reputable NGO's with a track record of working hard  to alleviate poverty in the three northern regions,  could partner the Savanna Accelerated Development Authourity (SADA), which could  fund some of their ongoing community-based poverty alleviation projects.

Each time those who participate in the senseless killings in the north get away with their crimes, it emboldens others elsewhere to settle disputes in similar fashion. We must rethink the gun licensing laws in Ghana. It is obvious that there are far too many people with access to firearms in the north.  Stiffer sentences for the illegal possession of guns need to be enacted into law.

Above all, something concrete needs to be done to relieve the sense of hopelessness felt by so many young people in the three northern regions, as a result of the endemic poverty there. It is in the interest of society generally that that is done quickly.

 Perhaps instead of relying solely on SADA to fight poverty in the north,  private-sector entities too could  use innovative schemes to help alleviate poverty in the three northern regions.

Ghana's banking industry, for example, could come together and contribute their quota - through the  creation of annual CSR funding opportunities for the brightest  entrepreneurial types in communities across the three northern regions, by holding business proposal writing competitions with prize-money that can be invested in start-ups, and mentoring by successful entrepreneurs made available to the winners for a specified period.

 We have the terrible example  of how Boko Haram has exploited the poverty in northern Nigeria to gain a foothold there to learn from. We owe it to ourselves as a people to prevent that from happening here too - by alleviating the shocking poverty in the three northern regions of our homeland Ghana.  A word to the wise...