Lawra: A missing regional independence opportunity

For the first time in a while, the Upper West Region did not hold a regional programme to observe this year’s Independence Day celebration.

This was because of the communication from the Presidency that there would not be any regional activity to mark the day. Instead, all the districts within the region were encouraged to plan theirs separately.

The decision was in conformity with the presidential directive to cut down on costs related to the organisation of the Independence Day celebration.

The region has in the past been rotating the celebration among the districts within the region to ensure that every district had a feel of the regional celebration.

Last year’s event was held at Nandom and this year’s event was scheduled to take place at Lawra.

However, the presidential directive has ‘denied’ the people of Lawra the opportunity to host and experience the regional celebration like other districts in the region.

Confirmation

The Upper West Regional Coordinating Director, Pognaa Fati Issaka Koray, confirmed this to the Daily Graphic in a telephone interview.

 A part of the Lawra Municipality

She said the various districts would celebrate the day at the local level in compliance with the presidential directive to scale down the celebration.

Consequently, unlike in the previous celebrations where the security services from the region converged at a district to mark the day, this year, the district offices saw a totally different form of celebration.

The District Coordinating Directors would be expected to inspect the guard of honour that would be mounted by the security services in the absence of the district chief executives. The region has 11 districts.

Lawra

The Lawra Municipality is one of the 261 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the country, and forms part of the 11 municipalities and districts in the region.

Located in the north western corner of the Upper West Region between Longitude 2°25 W and 2°45W and Latitude 10°20 and 11°00, the municipality has its administrative capital as Lawra.

The total area of the municipality is 514 square km and constitutes about 5.7 per cent of the region’s total land area, which is estimated at 18,476 square km.

The municipality is bounded to the north by the Nandom District, to the east by Lambussie District and to the south and west by the Republic of Burkina Faso.

The population of the municipality according to the 2021 population and housing census, is 58,433 with 28,325 males and 30,108 females.

The principal natural resources in the municipality are the Black Volta, Brutu Forest Reserves and Mushroom rocks at Babile.

Most of the residents are engaged as skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers, with 83.5 per cent of households engaged in agriculture, according to an analytical report on the 2010 PHC.  

It states that in the rural localities, 90.3 per cent of households are agricultural households while in the urban localities, 46.9 per cent of households are into agriculture.