The Member of Parliament (MP) for Bongo, Edward Bawa has stated that the distribution of fertilizers in the community is influenced by partisan considerations.

He noted that since Bongo is a closely-knit community where everyone is familiar with each other, this political bias is more noticeable.

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Speaking on JoyNews AM show, Mr Bawa said, “Even issues of Planting for Food and Jobs, where fertilizers and other inputs are brought to help them survive, are purely done on political bases.

"Bongo is not Accra. In Bongo, everybody knows everybody. As I sit, if I enter into Bongo and meet the first ten people, I can tell everybody and the political party the person belongs to because we are that connected. It is not like in the city where you do not even know somebody that you share a wall with; you do not even know the person’s name. In such a setting, you know everybody, and unfortunately, you have situations like this.”

He stated that Bongo has discovered large gold deposits, raising concerns that illegal mining activities from the South may shift to Bongo.

Mr Bawa noted that on a recent trip from Bongo to Tamale, he noticed that the White Volta, which was previously clean due to water flowing directly from Burkina Faso, had now become polluted.

“Gradually, [illegal mining] is creeping into the north, and if we are not careful, that is going to mess us up as a people.”