BY Grace Zigah
In what many see as a historic turn of events, Alhaji Halidu Haruna, a well-known member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) communications team, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Zongo Development Fund after deriding the project.
The appointment, announced this week, has stirred conversations across political and social circles, especially given Alhaji Halidu’s previously critical stance on former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
The zongo development fund, which Haruna will now lead, traces its roots to a major campaign promise made in 2016 by Dr. Bawumia at the National Nasara Conference in Kumasi.
He had criticise the project which now put food on his table.
At the time, the then–NPP running mate outlined a vision to prioritize development in Zongo communities across Ghana, pledging to tackle the long-standing infrastructural and social inequalities in those areas.
Following the New Patriotic Party’s victory in the 2016 elections, the government created a ministerial portfolio specifically for Zongo and Inner-City Development.
In 2018, Parliament passed an Act and supporting legislative instruments that formally established the Zongo Development Fund as a state institution mandated to channel resources into improving living standards in Zongo communities.
Since its inception, the Fund has overseen the completion of more than 400 projects nationwide, ranging from classroom blocks and community centers to drainage systems and road infrastructure.
Several schools and other projects are still under construction, reflecting the Fund’s central role in addressing development gaps in some of the most deprived urban areas.
Halidu Haruna’s appointment is therefore being viewed not only as a significant personal milestone but also as a symbolic moment in Ghana’s political landscape.
Critics and supporters alike note the irony of a staunch Bawumia critic now at the helm of an institution born out of the former Vice President’s flagship campaign promise.
