Burkinabe Delegation Attends Independence Day Celebration
Monday March 08, 2010
By Matthew Ayoo, Wa
THE Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Mahmud Khalid, has called for effective co-operation and collaboration between Ghana and Burkina Faso to check cross-border crime, especially cattle rustling.
Such co-operation and collaboration, he explained, would also improve bilateral trade between the two countries; enhance disease surveillance and combat epidemics as well as smoothen the free movement of people, goods and services.
Mr Khalid said this at a round table discussion with a 15-member delegation from Burkina Faso here on Friday.
The delegation, led by Colonel Pascal Sawadogo, Regional Minister of the South-West Region of Burkina Faso, was in Wa to join the people to celebrate the 53rd anniversary of Ghana’s independence.
The visit, a reciprocal one, was at the invitation of the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council.
Mr Khalid said efforts to curb cattle rustling between the two neighbouring regions had not made the desired impact because the attitude of some security personnel was not only questionable but that some security personnel were part of the cattle rustling syndicate.
He also accused some traditional rulers of being part of the problem and urged them to desist from the practice and rather expose the perpetrators to help bring cattle rustling to a halt.
In his response, Colonel Sawadogo expressed his country’s gratitude and appreciation to the Regional Minister for the invitation to participate in Ghana’s 53rd independence anniversary celebration.
He said the visit would help strengthen the cordial relationship between the two regions in particular and Ghana and Burkina Faso in general and also enhance trade, business and commerce among the people of the two countries.
Colonel Sawadogo called for more collaboration in the areas of health and agriculture to help improve the lives of the people of the two counties.
The Upper West Regional Director of Health Service, Dr. Alexis Nang-Beifubah, said since diseases knew no boundaries, and the fact that Ghana and Burkina Faso are in the same geographical location, there was the need for the two countries to collaborate and share health information and surveillance reports to improve the lives of the people of both countries.
Dr. Nang-Beifubah said the two regions had synchronised their National Immunisation Days and shared surveillance reports with each other to be able to combat epidemic diseases.
The Regional Director of Health Service for the South-West Region of Burkina Faso, Dr Isidore Moyenya, said last year the two regions organised several trans-border polio vaccinations. This year, also, cross-border polio immunisation had been carried out.
Dr Moyenga commended the Upper West Regional Director of Health for the co-operation and support during cross-border immunisations, and hoped such understanding would be sustained to enhance the health status of the people of the two countries.
He said 29 people lost their lives through Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) in the South-West Region, adding, “no district has reached epidemic level.”
Dr Moyenga called for the development of a comprehensive strategy on cross-border immunisation and disease surveillance to improve the health status of the people of the two regions.
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