New airport for you: Bawumia promises Upper East Region

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has promised the Upper Region Region a new airport if he is elected President. This comes after years of the Region’s anxious wait to lay hands on an airport to facilitate movement and trade in the region.

Despite many promises by politicians over the years, no concrete effort has been made to materialize the Region’s dream. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, however, has assured that would be a thing of the past by promising to construct an airport in the region.

Speaking during the NPP’s manifesto launch on Sunday, August 18, 2024, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said a $2 billion Korean facility would be used to finance the project. He said it is part of the revitalization of the aviation sector. Bawumia noted that the work would include the construction of the Cape Coast and Upper East airports and a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facility at the Tamale Airport.

“Our plan includes the development of the Cape Coast Airport, funded by the $2 billion Korean facility, the establishment of an MRO facility at Tamale Airport to make it a cargo and logistics hub, and the construction of a new airport in the Upper East Region.”

However, the promise is the second time the NPP has made such a promise about building a new airport for any of the regions. During its 2020 manifesto launch at the University of Cape Coast, the party promised to build an airport and a harbour in Cape Coast.

“People of Cape Coast, I have good news for you. We are building a new harbour in Cape Coast and a new airport in Cape Coast. It is very critical that we do that. An airport makes a lot of sense in Cape Coast. It’s a real tourist hub, and between Greater Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast, you have a triangle that really is a hub for a lot of economic activity…and it’s a major growth pole if we put an airport here to drive infrastructure drive,” Bawumia said in 2020.

However, that was flashed off by the President after the party won the 2020 elections. He said the party never promised a harbour to the people of Cape Coast but a landing site and assured them that they’d have theirs.

Fact-Check Ghana, however, proved that the President’s claims that the party never promised a harbour were inaccurate. Page 160 of the NPP’s 2020 Manifesto said the party would construct “a new harbour in Cape Coast, and a new airport in Cape Coast”.

Meanwhile, the desperation of the people of the Upper East Region for an airport has become the tickling skin for politicians seeking votes in the Region. The current and previous governments have all made promises or assurances at one time or another about constructing an airport in the region. But little has been heard of it after the elections.

NOTE

Did you know that Bawumia has promised to abolish the E-levy and betting tax?

The continuous deception of the people of the region forced the people of the region to organize a durbar at the proposed airport site to call on the President to fulfil his promise. During the durbar, Naba Sigri Bewong, Paramount Chief of the Sakoti Traditional Area reminded the President of his promise to the Upper East Region about the airport.

“We would like to remind President Nana Akufo-Addo of his promise to complete the airport if elected into power, as he stated during his visit to the Sumbrungu Chiefs Palace and the One-Village-One-Dam project launch in Bongo. As his second term is coming to an end, we kindly appeal to him to honour his promise and allocate resources to continue and complete the construction of the airport,” Naba Sigri Bewong said per the BFT.

Meanwhile, the NDC’s Presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama has assured that the NDC will continue the process to construct the airport in the Upper East Region. Speaking during his campaign tour in the region, John Mahama said, “We chose the site for the airport. And we are committed to the airport because the people who need to fly to Accra will have to wake up early and drive like crazy to Tamale to be able to catch the flight.”