The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has refuted claims that guinea fowls from the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) flew to Burkina Faso during his presidency in 2014.
In 2014, SADA made headlines when it was reported that some guinea fowls under the initiative had supposedly migrated to Burkina Faso. Addressing the issue during a media event in Bolgatanga, as he concluded his tour of the Upper East Region, Mahama dismissed these allegations as false.
Mahama clarified that the guinea fowl project was misunderstood. Contrary to the belief that the project aimed to keep the birds in one location, the actual plan involved incubating the eggs and distributing the day-old chicks to local farmers for further rearing.
He criticized the media for spreading misinformation without verifying the details of the project.
“No guinea fowl flew to Burkina Faso. Guinea fowls are not migratory birds and the project was not for you to come and see thousands of guinea fowls in one place. It was supposed to incubate the eggs and give the guinea fowls’ day-old chicks to farmers.
“And so somebody came and asked the watchman, ‘where are the guinea fowls? And the watchman said, they go Burkina Faso, they go come back in the rainy season.’ The media went and published it. And after that, there are people who believe that there were some guinea fowls that flew to Burkina Faso. So that project died. But I think it is a project we can look at again.”
He attributed the confusion to a miscommunication with a security guard, whose comment about the birds supposedly going to Burkina Faso for the rainy season was inaccurately reported.
The former president also mentioned that the project included plans for a processing plant where mature guinea fowls would be processed and transported to market centers.
“There was supposed to be a processing plant so that the guinea fowls would be bought off the households and processed. And they would put them in frozen trucks to send them down to the south to the market. Unfortunately, the project ran into issues. The media criticised it, and they came and said the guinea fowls had flown to Burkina Faso.”
Former president John Mahama has refuted claims that Guinea fowls under the SADA program flew to Burkina Faso, a major position the New Patriotic Party held against him in 2016. #TV3GH pic.twitter.com/2L5mg05uD8
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) August 7, 2024