The Upper East Regional minister, Mr. Mark Woyongo, has told Joy FM that the capture of the notorious jail breaker, Johnson Kombian, will be a great relief to the police in his region. Speaking to Super Morning Show host Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah Monday on his developmental projects and plans for the region, Mr. Mark Woyongo lamented the level of poverty in the region, saying most residents of the Upper East Region live in abject poverty. Mr. Mark Woyongo also identified illiteracy, ethnicity and political naivety as the bane of the region. He said the uncompromising partisanship makes his work quite difficult in trying to forge a united front in developing the region. “In the region some people think that if you belong to the other side of the political divide, you are an enemy. They do everything to bring you down. You don’t enjoy their cooperation.” He explained that this behaviour is as a result of the desire of the people to secure “their turf” by fighting for the interest of their people and specific ethnic groups. Mr. Woyongo said his administration is liaising with the security apparatus to bring peace to the region in order to accelerate development for the people. In the area of investments, Mr. Woyongo disclosed that the region is rich in gold, granites and tourist attractions which are critical business sectors that they are considering to promote for economic growth. In the agric sector, the regional minister said people of the Upper East Region are hard working but the harsh weather conditions make it impossible to be productive as majority of the people are farmers: “They are poor because they are unemployed in the first instance. "Number two, because of the vagaries of the weather,… 80 percent of the people are farmers. They are hard working but the weather is not a good friend.” Mr. Mark Woyongo, applauded the Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee in the region for managing the conflicts and ensuring that some calm has returned to the region adding that there is a need to cleanse the land as the region prepares to chart a new course in its march towards economic growth. Mr. Mark Woyongo described as unfortunate, claims by some Ghanaians that the government had no business pumping scarce resources into developing an area which was always in conflict and showed little sign of stopping, insisting that the role of the government is to provide support for the weak and downtrodden. Mr. Woyongo pointed out that the health issues that currently plague the region will soon be a thing of the past as he has encouraged district assemblies in the region to sponsor four medical students so that in the next seven years these young doctors will come out to support the region. He said he is working with stakeholders to introduce incentives into the health sector to attract a lot more people into the sector. Mr. Woyongo said social interventions such as the Northern Rural Growth Programme, Youth in Agriculture and Block Farming introduced by the government is helping to mitigate the hardship of the people in the region. He however hopes that the interest shown in the region by investors will be the catalyst required to change the fortunes of the Upper East Region. Story by Derick Romeo Adogla/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana