1. INTRODUCTION
From 29th December 2004 to 1st January 2005, BONABOTO held its Fourth National Congress at Bolgatanga in the Upper East region. The Congress marked the climax of a weeklong programme of activities throughout the regions, such as radio discussion sessions and a Ghana Television programme -“Breakfast Show”. Over 120 delegates attended the Congress, whose Guest of Honour was the Bishop of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese, Bishop Lucas Abadamloara.
2. OPENING CEREMONY
The Fourth Bonaboto National Congress was opened on the morning of Thursday, the 29th of December 2004 with a welcome address from the Chairman of the Bolgatanga Branch, Mr. Francis Avonsige. This was followed by an address by the National Chairman, Mr. Vitus Azeem. Dr. Agnes Apusiga chaired the opening ceremony.
The Regional Minister, Mr. Salifu Mahami, made a presentation. He appealed to politicians to forgive one another. He stated that, in elections, there would usually be winners and losers. That during the period preceding the December 7 parliamentary and presidential elections, political differences may have created acrimony, which was unfortunate. Therefore, after the elections the winners and the losers should bury their differences for the development of the Bonaboto area.
Hon. Salifu Mahami admonished the misuse of the environment: frequent bush fires, littering etc, which characterized certain parts of the Bonaboto area. He also advised the people of the area to coordinate the activities of post harvest festivals.
The Minister praised Bonaboto for convening the 4th congress and challenged the incoming executive committee of Bonaboto to continue the good work already started.
On his part, the Bishop, who was the Guest of Honour raised a few points and observations for the consideration of Congress. Before then, he thanked God for yet another year of success in terms of the following:
• Creation of Talensi-Nabdam district
• Road works
• Progress in the districts due to efforts of Government and NGOs
The Bishop urged Congress, and for that matter Bonaboto, to consider extending the discussions on education to cover “non-formal” education in order to include issues of the environment and ecology.
He stated that politics aims at peace and development. As such, in elections those who have the potential of realizing the common good of the people invariably get elected. He extended good wishes to the elected and prayed that God should empower them to be God fearing and to enable them bring good projects to their people.
He urged Bonaboto and natives of the Region to make Bologatanga a “Geneva” in Ghana, that is, a symbol of respect for peace, which was possible to achieve.
He cautioned residents who sell their lands without thinking of the future generation, to reconsider their conduct in that respect.
The Youth of Bonaboto need attention. The children and women roaming the streets of the town equally need attention. What can Bonaboto do to control the phenomenon of street children? Is it enough to give a loan to these people? He asked. Can Bonaboto think of establishing an eatry where these people can have, at least, one good meal a day? The Bishop queried.
There are lots of children trying with difficulty to access education for life. There is the need to set up a fund to assist such children, even including those in the University.
He appealed to natives to treat teachers who are non-natives with respect and to help them integrate, so that they feel happy to stay in the region
Environmental issues in the region are important: black polytene bags fly all over the township; bush fires have not stopped.
The Bishop urged Congress to consider the above stated concerns.
He then made some donations to congress as follows:
• A book entitled, “Ghana Bishops Speak Out”
• A copy of the communiqué issued by the Catholic Bishops Conference recently,
• A ram to assist in feeding Congress participants.
3. PRESENTATION - EDUCATION FOR ALL: MYTH OR REALITY
A panel of three comprising, Prof. Bening former Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies, (UDS), Tamale, Mr. Ken Dabuo, Regional Director of Education Upper East Region, and Mr. Didacus Afegra, Headmaster, Gowrie Senior Secondary School, was constituted to lead discussions on the topic. Each member of the panel delivered a presentation. The presentations would be posted on the website.
4. LAUNCH AND DEMONSTRATION OF BONABOTO WEBSITE
The most exciting part of the congress programme was the demonstration of the Bonaboto website, www.bonaboto.com. Mr. Stephen Asunka designed the website and Dr. Joe Akamah, (Chicago) of the US Branch of Bonaboto, paid for the hosting of the website. Congress acknowledged with gratitude, the contributions of Mr. Asunka and Dr. Akamah.
5. REPORTS FROM BRANCHES
Regional Branches, which were represented at the Congress, presented reports on the activities of their respective branches. Tamale, Kumasi, Accra-Tema, Bolgatanga and Techiman branches were represented. The United Kingdom Branch also e-mailed its report to Congress.
The Tamale branch reported that it had organized women into groups and secured loans for them to engage in income generation. The women had since repaid the loans obtained and many more women were to benefit from similar facilities.
The branch had also constructed a ward at the clinic of a philanthropic medical practitioner for the occupation of patients from the Bonaboto area. The Branch reported that its ward was the only one constructed with cement blocks and roofed with roofing sheets.
The Bolgatanga Branch reported that they had prepared a concept paper on guinea fowl farming for the consideration of Bonaboto and the political authorities in the region.
The Kumasi Branch reported that it had collected ¢5,900,000 for the Bonaboto education Assistance fund (BEAF).
The Accra-Tema branch announced that the 11th edition of the Frafra-Dagarba Games, which comes on in the first week of September 2005, would mark the 10th Anniversary of those games and would be celebrated as such. It extended invitations to the games to all branches.
The reports indicated that the branches were doing well, both in their activities and attendance to meetings. Nevertheless, Congress observed that membership could have been better than it was and charged all branches to investigate why some people do not attend meetings and report to the executive council by the end of the year.
6. BEAF REPORT
The Chairman of the BEAF reported that the implementation of the scholarship scheme and other assistance packages under the Bonaboto Education Fund (BEAF) could not take off this year as planned. The target of ¢100 million had still not been achieved. The BEAF Management Committee continued to print T-Shirts, caps, make key holders and car stickers for sale in order to raise money to fill the gap. The Committee also continued to pursue those who made pledges to the fund but had not paid to redeem their pledges as well as convince others to donate to the fund.
7. FINANCIAL REPORT
A statement of finances presented at Congress showed the Balance Sheet of the union (National Secretariat) as follows:
i. Treasury Bills = ¢18,000,000
ii. Cash at Bank = ¢26,104,950
iii. Accounts receivable = ¢1,735,000
Total = ¢ 45,839,950
The amount of ¢45,839,950 was made up of the following:
i. Accounts payable = ¢20,939,000
ii. Accumulated Fund = ¢30,483,537
iii. Transfers to Accumulated Fund = ¢ -4,682,600
Total =
¢ 45,839,950
8. ELECTIONS
The following were elected to the National Executive Committee (NEC) for the next two years:
1. Mr. Thomas Akabzaa - Chairman
2. Mr. Francis Zulom - Vice Chairman
3. Mr. Ayelgum George Anaba - Secretary
4. Mr. Lance Adoguba - Organising Secretary
5. Mr. Kofi Awankua - Treasurer
6. Ms. Janet Abugre - Vice Treasurer
7. Mr. Andrews Akolaa - Public Relations Officer
9. SOCIALISATION DURING CONGRESS
9.1. Social Mix
As part of Congress activities, three (3) special evenings were organized to enable participants interact freely and in an atmosphere free of formalities. Drinks and small chops were served. More than 120 persons patronized those evenings, including invited guests from other ethnic groups in the region. It was all of fund and enjoyment as members shared jokes, drinks and meat.
9.2. Dinner Dance
A dinner dance was organized on 1st January 2005 to mark the end of the Congress. Over 90 people attended. An appeal for funds, launched by Mr. David Amoah of Dasoa Company, yielded an amount of ¢30m both in cash and pledges. Mr. Ben Anamoh, Chairman, Tamale Branch, was the Chairman at the dinner dance.
10. CONCLUSION
The 4th Congress ended successfully. Members resolved to stay united in order to confront the challenges facing the organization.
Issued by order of the National Executive Committee,
January 2005
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