The announcement by President John Dramani Mahama and his government to establish a Catholic Science and Technology University and a regional teaching hospital in Damongo is one of the clearest signals so far, that the Savannah Region is being viewed not merely as an afterthought in political terms but as a genuine frontier for strategic development. It is an action that deserves national recognition, one that fulfills the aspirations of a region long loyal to the nation, with rich history and unparalleled agricultural promise.
This announcement does not come out of nowhere. Many recall his significant achievement during his first term, the construction of the Fufulso-Sawla road. This road transformed the mindset of an entire geographic corridor. It drastically reduced travel time, facilitated trade, and finally linked Northern, Savannah, and Upper West regions with the kind of infrastructural dignity that has long been given to our southern countaparts. It’s current state of disrepair only highlights its importance. It deserves to be prioritized in his proposed Big-Push agenda; not just as a road, but as a vital economic artery for in northern Ghana.
The proposed university and teaching hospital in Damongo are profoundly strategic. These are not symbolic projects, they are legacy-shifting, demographic-changing interventions. For that reason, this announcement must not become another ceremonial sod-cutting event that headlines today and disappears tomorrow, because we are a nation with world-class groundbreaking ceremonies, but too many monuments of perpetual foundation stones and rusty signboards.
There are too many broken promises in our promise-archives, and they need to be brought out of policy and into being; to become the visible commitments that lend urgency and clarity.
For years, the Savannah has minted intellectual genius without meeting our institutional needs. For a science and technology university, especially one that has its roots in Catholic academic rigour, can not only generate home-grown knowledge but keep northern talent here, while inspiring a new generation of innovators. A regional teaching hospital with medical training woven through it, will not only provide health care, but it will create capacity for generations.
As this debate develops, there will inevitably be regional discussion about what is right to name, especially in a place with rich cultural history and an abundance of spiritual life. The Catholic Church has certainly been a driver of development in the region — for instance, how St. Anne’s Hospital got major renovations during the Fufulso-Sawla project. But it is all fair and square for Government to consider a name that reflect the contribution of both the Church and the cultural soul of the Gonja Kingdom. An identity–honor balance is not a dilemma, it’s respect.
But amid the justified celebration, one truth is inescapable: Damongo’s biggest crisis today is water.
For more than two decades, government after government has promised and failed to provide safe, reliable drinking water to the very town that is now capital of the Savannah region. Domestic life is disrupted daily. Industrial capacities are stifled before they can ever develop. Even the Yagbonwura himself has many times voiced this concern. Water isn’t a political goodie bag, but it is, quite simply, a human right and the fundamental building block upon which every other investment must be based.
This is why this moment, this presidential intention, holds such power and why our expectations are equally important.
Damongo and the Savannah Region are so thankful. They read the news and understand how significant the announcement is. But if this story of transformation is to be true in every complete; the University, the hospital, and the path to national relevance to genuinely thrive — it must start urgently and irrevocably with water.
By: Johannes Akunatu Pankani
Political and Policy Observer
