Story by: Ibrahim Abubakar Wangara
In an effort to promote peaceful inter-ethnic coexistence and unity among communities within the Daffiama–Bussie–Issa (DBI) District in the Upper West Region, some fun games including sports and other cultural events were organized among four clusters of communities in the District.
The DBI District Assembly in strong partnership with District branch of the National Youth Authority (NYA), with funding support from the Gulf of Guinea Social Cohesion Project (SOCO project), organized the competitions among the various ethnic groups in the area with the aim to promote peaceful inter-ethnic tolerance in the area, fostering an environment conducive to development among others as intended by the SOCO project.
District Chief Executive Officer of DBI, Engineer Nadi Imoro Sanda in his opening remarks said he is grateful for the inter-cluster fun games under the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion project (SOCO) and the level of participation among members in the District.
Engineer Sanda added that the social cohesion project will benefit a lot of communities in the area with much focus on local economic development.
This, he revealed, the district will soon benefit from a Shea butter processing machine to facilitate the smooth production of Shea butter in the area.
The District Planning Officer, Madam Amina Saani, in explaining the SOCO project to the youth said the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) is a $150 million Credit Facility Project, secured by the Government of Ghana from the World Bank to undertake 582 infrastructural projects in 48 beneficiary Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies in Ghana.
Madam Amina stated that the Project is a multi-country intervention being implemented by four countries; Ghana, Benin, Ivory Coast and Togo as proactive measure to prevent the spread of conflict from the Sahel, reduce vulnerability to climate change, and strengthen local institutions, economic opportunities and public trust.
Miss Sarah Bounsie Banogeku, District Director of the National Youth Authority (NYA) whilst admonishing the youth in the area to desist from all forms of social vices, encourages them to be more patriotic citizens at all time.
She indicated that organising cluster-level inter-community sports for development events such as football galas, athletics and indoor games forms a key activity in this regard.
The colorful Football Gala Competition provided a platform for young and talented footballers from four zones of the District [Kojoperi Cluster, Daffiama Cluster, Issa Cluster, and Bussie Cluster] to express their passion and talents on the field of play.
At the end of the competition,
Daffiama Cluster emerged as the overall winner with Bussie Cluster following up as the 1st runner-up.
Kojoperi Cluster came up as the second runner-up and
Issa Cluster managing the 3rd runner-up position.
Some youth who participated in the games speaking to the media said they were happy with the games organized as the competition brings fun and excitement among them.