Flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana \u00a0Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, has pooh-poohed President Mahama’s state of the nation address, saying he only told tales that do not reflect the real state of affairs.<\/p>\n
On Thursday February 25, President John Dramani Mahama delivered his last state of the nation address for his first four-year tenure, touting the achievements of his government mostly in education, road, energy, health and road sectors.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”D6QV2SMSMBBmnmVqO7YhXHRyoEf3ShWe”]He said his administration had fulfilled the promise he made at a similar address in 2015, to fix the power crisis (Dumsor) which plagued the nation, collapsing businesses and rendering many jobless.<\/p>\n
But delivering what he calls \u201cThe Real State of the Nation Address\u201d at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons today [Monday], Nana Addo said the President failed to admit that \u201cGhana is a nation in\u00a0crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the President of the Republic rose before Parliament in engulfment of his constitutional obligation to deliver his message on the state of the nation last Thursday, I watched on television in the hope that he will capture the difficulties that face our people daily. I waited to hear him admit that we are in crisis and I expected\u00a0him to offer a glimmer of hope and ask all of us Ghanaians to help resolve the crisis in which we find ourselves\u2026Unfortunately millions of Ghanaians including my humble self, waited in vain. President Mahama painted the picture that bore very little resemblance to the reality that is today\u2019s Ghana.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. President are you living in the same Ghana as the rest of us? I was forced to draw the conclusion that the President has chosen to tell us a tale of two ‘Ghanas’ during his three-hour forty minutes speech. There is the Ghana inhabited by the President, his family, friends and a select small group, then there is a real Ghana inhabited by the remaining 27 million of us. “<\/p>\n
Unemployment<\/strong><\/p>\n Nana Addo touched on various challenges facing the Ghanaian economy to buttress his assertion that Ghana\u2019s economy is in crisis.<\/p>\n He\u00a0 expressed concern about the high unemployment rate in Ghana saying \u201cmillions of Ghanaians wake up each day to the reality of joblessness and they spend their energies looking for non-existent jobs. Young people finish schools, acquire qualifications and end up frustrated with no prospects of a job or a career.”<\/p>\n “Does the President have no evidence of the scale of graduate unemployment in this country? Has the President no evidence of the large number of teacher and nursing trainees whose three years and more after completion of their training are virtually sitting at home without being afforded the opportunity to offer the critical service for which they have been trained.The President came to Parliament and gave no indication he was aware of the enormity of the unemployment problem that faces our country”<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Marian Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n