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The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) is proposing the re-establishment of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) as a dedicated project to champion the development of the northern part of the country.
The intention is to restructure SADA into a relevant development authority to achieve its purpose as the main vehicle driving development across the northern half of the country.
The proposal is expected to be part of a comprehensive document of a national development plan that will receive parliamentary approval to make it binding on successive governments.
The Chairman of the NDPC, Dr Nii Moi Thompson, said SADA remained a "critical component of any strategy for the effective transformation of the Ghanaian economy in the medium to long term”.
Dr Thompson made the statement during an engagement between the NDPC and the Northern Regional Coordinating Council and local assemblies of the Northern Region in Tamale.
He said President John Dramani Mahama had directed the commission to prepare a "consolidated national development plan" from all previous development plans to be approved by Parliament to make it binding on current and future governments.
Dr Thompson said the restructured SADA would also contribute significantly to the "even development" of the country as required by the 1992 Constitution.
"SADA, which covered 54 per cent of the land area of Ghana, was greatly misunderstood in terms of its scope, role and potential impact on national development," the NDPC boss said.
The government established SADA around 2010 with a focus on the broader Savannah ecological zone, which included the three northern regions and parts of the then-Brong-Ahafo (currently Bono, Ahafo and Bono regions) and the Volta Region, through large-scale agricultural and infrastructural development.
It was, however, saddled with scandals and mismanagement, especially in the guinea fowl and tree planting projects, with critics pointing to its failure to meet its objectives despite significant funding.
In 2017, it was replaced with the Northern Development Authority (NDA), which had a narrower focus that limited its scope to the specific three northern regions — Northern, Upper East and Upper West.
It was intended to align with the "One Village One Dam" policy to address poverty through targeted constituency-level infrastructure development, rather than the broader regional approach of SADA.
However, the NDA has also been embroiled in controversy. It has been criticised for failing to deliver “meaningful projects”, struggling to pay salaries, and lacking a clear strategic plan in its early years.
On SADA, Dr Thompson said the areas covered shared common ecological similarities, challenges, and prospects, making it easier and more cost-effective to address the challenges through an integrated strategy.
He said the fact that seven of the poorest regions in Ghana as of 2025 were in the original SADA development zone justified a decision to revisit the strategy and strengthen it for a better outcome.
He said to make a restructured SADA effective, Development Bank Ghana should be repurposed to its original objective of a "SADA Development Bank" to fund development projects that transcended districts, but with shared benefits such as water, transport and logistics.
He indicated, however, that within and beyond SADA, national development strategies would also address rural-urban disparities.
"The poorest socio-economic groups in Ghana are food crop farmers, followed by cash crop farmers," he said, stressing that "that is immoral and paradoxical", and that "something must be done about that".
Dr Thompson said the NDPC was embarking on regional consultations before producing "yet another development plan," as the commission must first understand why previous plans failed and use the lessons learnt to prepare the new plan.
He said the commission was thus conducting "strategic engagements" across the 16 regions of the country and with key state agencies in order to construct an appropriate national development plan.
The commission had earlier paid a courtesy call on the Overlord of the Dagbon Traditional Area, Ndan Yaa Naa Abukari II, at Gbewa Palace, during which he presented the commission with a copy of a "Dagbon Strategic Development Plan".
Dr Thompson was accompanied by the Director-General of the commission, Dr Audrey Smock Amoah.
At a previous strategic engagement with the Savannah Regional Coordinating Council at Damongo, Dr Thompson lamented the fate of Ghanaian farmers and questioned the relevance of the National Farmers Day.
"In the three decades that Farmers Day has been held, our food import bill has been rising, farmers have become poorer, and we can't even pay the prizes of those who win. It's become an expensive annual ritual with no meaningful impact," he said.
"Perhaps, we should scrap Farmers Day and use the money to improve the well-being of farmers, especially smallholder farmers, who remain among the poorest," he said.
