The Vice President of the Vagla Youth Association (VAYA), Kipo Jimah has called for improved road infrastructure, better telecommunication services and enhanced water systems for the Sonyo community during the 2026 Sonyo Deng Festival celebration held on May 16, 2026.
Delivering a speech on behalf of the President of VAYA, Kipo Jimah said the Sonyo Deng Festival has become an important cultural platform for promoting unity, tourism development, environmental conservation, and community progress within the Bole Traditional Area.
This year’s festival was celebrated under the theme: “Promoting the Sonyo Deng Festival: A Cultural Tool for Tourism Development and Environmental Conservation in the Savannah Region.”According to him, the festival, which was formally adopted by the Vagla Youth Association four years ago, continues to grow into a major cultural event attracting visitors from across Ghana and beyond.
He explained that the festival was adopted as a common cultural celebration for the Vagla, Safaliba, Choruba, and Nomce/Batigee ethnic groups after extensive consultations with chiefs, elders, youth groups and other stakeholders.
Kipo Jimah commended the Ghana Tourism Authority for efforts to place the Sonyo Deng Festival on Ghana’s tourism calendar, stressing that the initiative would help preserve cultural heritage while creating economic opportunities through tourism development.
He further encouraged the Bole and Sawla-Tuna-Kalba Assemblies to invest in tourism infrastructure and preservation to harness the enormous tourism potential within the area.Touching on peace and security, he referenced the 2025 Gbiniyiri inter-ethnic conflict in the Savannah Region, which resulted in the loss of lives and displacement of vulnerable residents.
He expressed gratitude to President John Dramani Mahama, traditional authorities, security agencies, and peace actors for their intervention in restoring calm and stability in the area.Kipo Jimah also announced that VAYA has resolved to gradually hand over the organization and management of the Sonyo Deng Festival to the people and youth of Sonyo through a three-year transition process aimed at ensuring sustainability and local ownership of the festival.
Under the arrangement, VAYA will first help establish a functional local organizing committee before jointly managing the festival during the transition period. Eventually, the Sonyo community will assume full ownership and management of the festival, while VAYA takes up an advisory role.In a welcome address delivered on behalf of the Sonyo community, David Kipo highlighted several developmental challenges facing the area, particularly poor road infrastructure, inadequate telecommunication services and limited access to potable water.
He noted that although some progress had been made in improving voice communication services in the community, internet and data connectivity remain a major challenge, especially for students and professionals who rely on online platforms for learning and work.“As I stand here and speak, I am a student. I cannot stay in Sonyo and do my assignments online because of the poor data network,” he lamented.
He appealed to the Member of Parliament for Bole-Bamboi and Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Yusif Sulemana, to help facilitate improved telecommunication services for the community.David Kipo also expressed appreciation to the MP for providing several boreholes to the community but appealed for a small community water system to reduce the burden on women who still depend on hand pumps for water.
The community further appealed to government authorities to rehabilitate the road network linking Sonyo to Bole and eventually connect it to the Tamale trunk road to improve transportation and economic activities.
The leadership of VAYA also used the occasion to remind President John Dramani Mahama of his pledge to support the association with a pickup vehicle to aid its operations and community development activities.The festival ended with calls for continued peace, unity, cultural preservation, environmental conservation, and sustainable development within the Savannah Region.
Source: nkilgifm.com
