Nana Storms Parliament…To Tell State Of Nation

AS A constitutional requirement, President Nana Akufo-Addo, would tomorrow Thursday present be in Parliament to present the State of the Nation Address (SONA), the second time since taking over leadership of the Ghana.

As has become a tradition, the Minority side of the House, expectedly would not spare him some hecklings and shouts of disapprovals during the address.

Expectations are that the President would touch on job creation, as this has been a major concern to a majority of Ghanaians.

Article 67 of the 1992 constitution provides that the “President shall, at the beginning of each session of Parliament and before dissolution of Parliament, deliver to Parliament a message on the state of the Nation’’.

President Akufo-Addo, in his second SONA, is expected to enumerate the gains chalked in the first year of the four-year tenure in charge of affairs for the country.

Areas expected to cover include economy, energy, Agriculture, Security issues, Education, infrastructure among others.

The President’s address is also expected to reinforce belief in the economy, after he told reporters last month during his first year in office that the economy is rebounding and the major commodity exporter is poised to wean itself off bailouts through sustained fiscal discipline and a battle against corruption.

The President’s second SONA is expected to present an outlook of the economy in various sectors of the economy, consolidating government policies and strategies for the development of the country for the next fiscal year.

2017 State of the Nation

During his first State of the Nation address the President stated that the three-year International Monetary Fund programme to stabilize national finances had failed to meet its objectives, and he placed the blame on the previous administration.

The fiscal deficit for 2016 was 9 percent of gross domestic product on a cash basis, rather than the target of 5.25 percent, he said, and estimated growth of 3.6 percent last year was the lowest in 23 years.

Notable in his 2017 presentation, President Akufo-Addo accused the Mahama administration of increasing the country’s debt stock to about GHc122 billion from GHc9.5 billion in 2009.

Akufo-Addo said the government would build a dam in every village to enable year-round agriculture, start work this year on a railway line connecting the port city of Takoradi to northern Ghana and tackle the problem of joblessness for young people, which he described as a “time bomb”.

Among some of the key targets met, the Akufo-Addo administration was able to roll out the Free Senior High School policy, restored both teacher and nurse trainee allowances and ensured the review of electricity tariffs.

The President who was sworn into office a year ago, said his government spent the past year stabilizing the economy, including clearing huge debts while rolling out infrastructure such as schools and roads.

Ghana, which exports cocoa, gold and oil, is in the last year of a $918 million credit deal signed in 2015 with the International Monetary Fund to reduce the deficit, public debt and inflation and lift growth.

President Nana Addo is also expected to lay bare before the lawmakers the progress report so far on his government’s flagship One District One Factory (1D1F), Planting for Food and Jobs, One Village One Dam among others.

By: Christian Kpesese/ thePublisher