The Minority Caucus in Parliament has shot down the presentation made by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on the State of the Nation (SONA), saying it was not the true state of affairs.
According to the minority caucus, the true SONA is that the economy is in tatters and the situation was inflicted onto the country by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.
“He said the economy is in tatters. The government inflicted it on the people and it is refusing to act. This is the true state of our nation.”
Minority Leader, Mr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, made the comments in Parliament yesterday after the presentation of the SONA by President Akufo-Addo.
President Akufo-Addo yesterday, in accordance with Article 67 of the Constitution, which states “the President at the beginning of each session of Parliament and before a dissolution of Parliament, deliver to Parliament a message on the state of the nation,” presented the SONA to Parliament.
According to the Minority leader, there is despair and disenchantment among the populace and that millions of people are going through unbearable hardship.
“There is indeed widespread of despair and disenchantment among our people. Millions of Ghanaians are going through unbearable hardship and excruciating pain.”
He also noted that the economy is in its worse shape and the situation is so bad that the government is unable to repay the country’s debts, noting that Ghana has defaulted in the repayment of its debt since January 2022.
He said despite these worse situations, the government is failing to cut down on its size, as well as cut down on public expenditure.
The Minority Chief Whip, Mr Governs Kwame Agbodza, on his part said that he was shocked that the president attempted to clear wrongdoers in his government.
The Minority Chief Whip said “We had situations where for instance, a DCE in the Northern Region suggested that party people were given an amount of money from the COVID-fund. We are expecting independent investigations into this thing, but once again the president took the wind out of the sail before the investigation, by pretending that he has cleared all those wrong doings already,” he said.
“I am extremely disappointed in the president. Once again the president sought to even clear members of government who are suspected of doing wrong things in the Covid expenditure,” he indicated.
Touching on the airports construction the President spoke about in his address, Mr Agbodza commended the NPP administration for continuing the Kumasi and Tamale airports, but insisted that the Akufo-Addo government has not constructed any new airport.
“…The only airport they promised is an airport in Central Region; you and I know that feasibility is still going on, so they haven’t done anything in terms of aviation.”
On roads, Mr Agbodza said he is also not sure about the data the President produced in the house about the number of new roads his administration has built.
However, the Majority caucus thinks the true SONA was what the President presented.
According to the Majority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the facts and figures speak for themselves, but it appears the minority had taken a position already on the SONA and was not ready to accept any fact presented by anyone”.
