According to the Minority, the address also failed to deal with critical sectors of the country.

[contextly_sidebar id=”f0mcxCJgCaDiXHUCkPRMhpAaXoOlaj7G”]Addressing the press, Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, indicated that it was unpardonable for the President not to have touched on Housing, the security situation in Bimbilla, Sports, Tourism among others in the sessional address.

According to him, the President’s condemnation of post-election violence was not enough.

“Nana Addo created an omission when he said charity begins at home, but failed to utter a word on the Bimbilla clashes, so we remind him that it is not just about what happens elsewhere but in his backyard. He is concerned about developments in The Gambia, and we are also concerned about the insecurity in Bimbilla, and we have already put them on alert that let nobody come tomorrow regretting that there is an incident in Bawku or in Yendi and now we are coming to single out life and property to be lost. I think they must act on their intelligence. We heard practically nothing about Brexit and its implications on our trade relations with the UK. On health, he only decided to talk about the NHIS…The President was more on statement of problems than suggesting solutions.”

Haruna Iddrisu is not the only Minority  member who has raised concerns with the President’s State of the Nation Address.

Okudzeto Ablakwa also said the President’s address was tilted to put the NPP administration in a good light.

He dismissed assertions by the President that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) left the economy in crisis.

“If you read the full State of the Nation Address, you will come to the conclusion that this economy cannot be a broke economy. This is the same economy that President Akufo Addo is saying that he is able to provide allowances to teacher trainees and nursing trainees. He is able to begin his free SHS programme and we should look forward to the Minister of Finance presenting his budget which will give us details on how he is going to do that. He is also upbeat about implementing a lot of his promises. The one village, one dam policy etc,” Ablakwa said.

“President Mahama has always spoken to the challenges. There is a difference when you do objective analysis and talk about challenges, and there is another issue that has to do with exaggerating and creating a situation that does not exist. If you say that we have revenue shortfalls; if you talk about the fact that we have missed some of the IMF targets that we have set, yes; that is fair, but in the same breadth, why do we think that the President did not touch on inflation? Because inflation has been trending downwards, interest rates have been trending downwards. so it is about picking and choosing and the picture you want to paint,” he added.

Nothing new in Nana Addo’s statement

The General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, also downplayed the President’s address, saying he presented “nothing new” in his statement.

The President presented his first address before Parliament in which he among other things condemned the violent attacks that characterized the transition period earlier this year, adding that such undignified acts should not be encouraged during his address.

But Asiedu Nketia, in an interview with Citi News  after the President’s presentation, said the attempt “to create the impression that he disliked the behaviour of his party people during the transition is just a smokescreen.”

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By: Duke Mensah Opoku & Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Nana Addo’s SOTN address only focused on challenges – Minority   appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The President presented his first address before Parliament in which he among other things condemned the violent attacks that characterized the transition period earlier this year, adding that such undignified acts should not be encouraged during his address.

But Asiedu Nketia,  in an interview with Citi News  after the President’s presentation, said the attempt “to create the impression that he disliked the behaviour of his party people during the transition is just a smokescreen. “

“Now everything has cooled down and he is coming to make a statement that let it be the end. Why will it be on your term and not any other person’s term?,” Asiedu Nketia queried.

He said the President’s atempt to paint a gloomy picture of the economy, is just a way for them to avoid fulfilling their numerous promises to the Ghanaoian people.

He wondered why the NPP administration is now adopting strategies introduced by the NDC; when it vehemently opposed same, whiles in opposition.

“Whether the state of the economy is good or bad, we are expecting you to deliver; but we are also sending strong signals about some of the promises which gives me discomfort. In talking about the Compact 2, we[NDC government] came here and said that we needed to restructure the way electricity corporation works, and we needed to privatize some aspects of their operations, they [NPP] said no way; and they indeed instigated workers of ECG to be demonstrating.”

“..Now they are no longer going to sell ECG alone, they are going to sell all the major institutions in the power sector … If it was bad at that time, what makes it good now? This whole business of let us win power at all cost and then we deal with the challenges later should be a thing of the past.”

“You cannot lie your way to power and come and take the people for granted. I want them to stand for full state ownership for ECG, full state ownership for VRA and full state ownership for GRIDCo which they stood for when we were in power.”

Economy won’t collapse under my watch – Nana Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo stated that, he will not allow Ghana’s economy to collapse under his watch, despite inheriting a challenging economy from the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

The President revealed that, the “reality of Ghana’s finances are quite stark as a result of policy choices.” According to him, “we find ourselves in the situation where Ghana’s total revenue is consumed by three main budgetary lines. Wages and salaries, interest and payments and amortisation and statutory payments.”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post Nothing new in Nana Addo’s SOTN address – Asiedu Nketia appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.