Upper East Regional Minister-Designate has listed the construction of an airport in the region, building of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam and resolving the protracted Bawku conflict among others as his priorities if he is approved by Parliament for the position.
Answering questions before the Appointments Committee of Parliament this evening January 27, 2025, Donatus Akamugri mentioned a vibrant aviation that will boost business and tourism in the place, an effective healthcare system and restoration of peace to conflict prone areas as well as completion of the Multipurpose Dam – envisioned to boost agriculture, power generation and end perennial flooding – as what he aspires to leave as his legacy.
Donatus Akamugri was responding to a question posed to him specifically by the Member of Parliament for Cape Coast South George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, who sought to find out what the nominee will consider as success after his exit from office if he is appointed.
“At the end of my tenure as a Regional Minister, I would want to see to it that the Bolgatanga Airport is fully in operation,” Akamugri responded, adding, “I would like to see the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam, which will provide jobs and open up the area for economic activities will be constructed”.
He further said that he will strive to end the protracted intertribal conflict in Bawku and restore peace in the area during his stay in office.
“I would like to see to it that peace is actualized so that Bawku can return to the good days when we used to refer to Bawku as the West African constituency because it shares borders with two countries – Togo and Burkina Faso.”
The Regional Minister-Designate expressed grave concern about the health personnel to the population ratio, stating that the situation is unacceptable as the numbers do not meet the World Health Organization’s benchmark.
He has, therefore, committed to ensure more healthcare personnel are deployed to facilities in the region to make up for the numbers.
“Upper East, we have a very serious problem in the health sector where the patient-doctor ratio is 1:24,124,” he stated.
“That’s a very serious issue against the accepted UN ratio of 1:1000. And so I’ll wish that, at the end of my tenure, we should have the health sector improved because a healthy society will be the society that can lead us to development.”
He also indicated his intention to see to the completion of hospitals being constructed in the region under the Agenda 111 initiative, a move by the erstwhile administration to construct 111 hospitals across the country.
“I hope that, at the end of it all, I should equally see that the Agenda 111 hospitals that are left there will be completed.”
