Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has dismissed claims that guinea fowls under the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) program flew to Burkina Faso during his administration in 2014.

These claims gained media attention in 2014, alleging that guinea fowls from the SADA project had migrated to the neighboring country.

Speaking to journalists in Bolgatanga at the conclusion of his tour of the Upper East Region on Wednesday, August 7, Mr. Mahama rejected the accusations, labeling them as unfounded.

He clarified that the project was misunderstood and misinterpreted in the press. Mr. Mahama explained that the SADA initiative was not about confining guinea fowls to a single location. Instead, it was an incubation process where day-old chicks were distributed to farmers for rearing.

He noted that the strategy was intended to incorporate the birds into local agricultural practices rather than restricting them to one area.

The former President criticized the media for not thoroughly investigating the project before reporting the sensational claims. He stressed that the project had been misrepresented and that no guinea fowl had migrated to Burkina Faso.

“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 insisted.

The former president added that there was a comprehensive plan to process the mature guinea fowls.

These processed birds were then to be transported to market centers across the country.

“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,” he added.