Dr Sulley Gariba, a Development Policy Advisor, has said the government had not yet paid the seed fund of GH¢250 million that it promised to kick start the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA). He said the passage of the SADA Act, Act 805, required the seed fund to have been paid to the secretariat for the implementation of the policy aimed at bridging the poverty gap between northern and southern Ghana. Dr. Gariba, who works in the office of the Vice President, was addressing a public forum on the SADA in Tamale on Wednesday organised by SEND-Ghana with support from Oxfam and Christian Aid under the theme; "Making SADA work for all". Dr. Gariba said the interim management of SADA was still waiting to see if the 2011 budget would capture the seed fund to SADA for immediate implementation of the policy. He said SADA was in consultation with donor agencies and some companies including a South African company that intends to produce sugar and that more sources of funding were being sought. Dr Gariba said the government needed to woo donors and and the private sector to increase SADA's source of funding. He said one of SADA's objectives was to improve on the ecological and economic conditions of the northern sector. Dr Gariba said some social interventions such as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) and the Ghana School Feeding Programme that were introduced to address problems associated with vulnerability, had turned to the disadvantage of the poor. Dr. Gariba noted that the climatic conditions in the Northern sector needs to be rejuvenated through agricultural green revolution aimed at reducing poverty to 20 percent from 62 percent current poverty levels in these areas. Mr Moses Bukari Mabengba, the Northern Regional Minister, said "SADA has moved from being a campaign promise to an Act of law which will soon make the target areas and people feel it in their lives". Dr Hakeem Wemah of the Northern Development Forum (NDF) appealed to people from northern Ghana, particularly the youth, to educate themselves to enable them take positions in the oil sector. Dr. Wemah appealed to the government to the government to ensure that SADA was not politicized adding "If you employ people through political means, another political party will kick them out". Source: GNA