Canteen Electoral Area welcomes John Dramani Mahama home 

Recall that at the 2018 Homecoming Event of the Canteen Yaara Development Association held at the Canteen Central Park of which Canteen had the rare privilege of receiving former President John Dramani Mahama as the Special Guest of Honor, the former president made a stunning revelation.

The charismatic statesman disclosed to the admiration and cheers of the enthusiastic crowd that he was also a “Canteen Yaaro” and a proud one at that”… “Canteen Yaaro, is a special colloquial phrase for anyone who hails from and associates dearly with the Canteen community and its developmental exploits. This is rightly so since the West Gonja Catholic Hospital located in Canteen is the birthplace of most prominent figures hailing from Gonjaland and the former president has made significant contributions to the social and economic transformation of the area.

See the link to the story I filed six years ago as a first comment: https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/I-am-also-a-Canteen-Yaaro-Mahama-reveals-711858.

The Canteen area, situated in the West Gonja Municipal of the Savannah Region is primarily an agrarian community, with more than six out of ten of the population of households in the area engaged in Agriculture, whilst the remaining are in petty trading and formal sector employment.

On the face of

incontrovertible records, it is right to say that the area has had its fair share of development from the reign of HE John Mahama as Vice President of Ghana from January 2009 to July 2012, and as substantive president from July 24, 2012 to January 7, 2017.

This ranges from rural electrification, access to portable drinking water, and major infrastructure boosts (Schools, roads, hospitals), and this cuts across all the spheres of local development.

As an agrarian community, the Block Farming Programme introduced into the Ghana Agriculture Extension Services as a special presidential initiative of the late president John Evans Atta Mills and HE John Dramani Mahama as vice president has been hailed and still remains very memorable to residents of the Canteen enclave because of the unparalleled benefits it offered. It provided wide solutions to unemployment in the area and substantially increased farm yields.

The revival of Cotton farming in Northern Ghana and the establishment of mechanization centers among other important interventions by the Mahama administration played major roles in boosting agriculture in the area.

Several communities, including Agric Settlement in the Canteen Electoral Area, got connected to the National Grid under the watch of HE John Dramani Mahama as President and honorable Adam Mutawakilu as Member of Parliament. Today, the said community has opened up wide enough to accommodate the new prison’s service tower being put up by the Church of Pentecost.

Agric offices got their fair share of a befitting six-unit classroom block under the reign of HE John Dramani Mahama as president and hon. Ali Bakari Kassim as DCE. The school remains the only existing school in that vicinity serving communities such as Agric, Kpiri, Tari, Frafra Number 4, and Frafra Number 5 and beyond.

The West Gonja Catholic Hospital got a major facelift under the reign of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama as president – the Accident and emergency center, Doctors and Nurses Bungalows, the Mortuary, and modern Ambulances are among the major infrastructure boosts the hospital received. Today, it remains one of the well-equipped district hospitals in Northern Ghana thanks to the visionary leadership of HE John Dramani Mahama with funding support from the Agriculture Development Bank.

The emergency road linking the Catholic Guest House to the hospital was equally asphalted under the project.

The late father of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, E. A Mahama equally opened up several dams of which Canteen Electoral Area was not left out.

The list is just unending…

Tracing the track record of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, we are convinced as a people that when given the opportunity to lead Ghana again, Canteen area will see consolidated transformation.

Under the NDC’s 2024 resetting Ghana manifesto: Jobs, accountability, and prosperity, the Canteen area will benefit significantly in job creation through the implementation of the 24-Hour Economy: one job, three persons, three shifts.

The Women Development Bank, which is a special-purpose bank is sure to empower our women with low-interest loans and other tailored financial services on flexible terms to boost their local businesses.

The teaming unemployed youth of Canteen who are reeling under excruciating hardship under the current NPP administration will be absorbed under the coders’ program and the $50 million FinTech Growth Fund aimed at promoting the growth of digital entrepreneurs and supporting Indigenous FinTech companies.

The area which is historically dominated by farming communities will benefit significantly from Farmer Service Centres and Farm Banks to be created within Agricultural zones to ease access to land and irrigation.

There are a lot more useful interventions under the resetting Ghana manifesto that will benefit the Canteen area as a whole.

I am very optimistic that the hope revival journey being pursued by His Excellency John Dramani Mahama will see the light of day and benefit the future towards posterity.

I encourage the entire electorates of the Canteen area to firmly support the great vision of HE John Dramani Mahama for a better community and country.

May the good Lord bless our homeland Canteen and make her people bold and strong to defend the course of development and rescue our country from nation wreckers!