Minority describes SONA as ‘lamentations’ - But Majority says it’s message of hope

The Majority and Minority sides of Parliament repeated their usual support-disapproval ritual about the substance of President John Dramani Mahama’s message on the State of the Nation delivered on the floor of the House yesterday.

When the Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, was offered the floor to second a motion to adjourn the House after the President’s message, he described the presentation, popularly referred to as the State of the Nation Address (SONA), as a message of hope while the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Marking, urged

President Mahama to stop lamenting over the state of the economy and focus his energy on fixing the economy to improve the lot of Ghanaians.

Hope for everyone

The Majority Leader, looking across the aisle to the Minority side, who were dressed in predominantly black attire, said it was obvious that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government left the economy in a miserable state and the “attire that they adorn today says it all”.

He said the President had brought hope to the House, the youth, women, Okada drivers, the private sector, students and the ordinary Ghanaian who did everything to bring him to power with such an overwhelming number.

“Mr Speaker, we have no doubt that everything outlined here gives hope and this House will support the President to deliver on his commitments, most importantly on the promise of ensuring accountability,” Mr Ayariga said.

Giving an assurance that the House would support the President to deliver on the promise of accountability, he warned that “those who damaged our economy must be held accountable”.

Political gambit

The Minority Leader,  who exceeded the time the Speaker, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, had allocated him, accused the President of engaging in political gambit by often appearing in the House to tell Ghanaians that he always inherited a poor economy.

For instance, he recalled the President’s address to the House on February 21, 2013, in which he told the House that “Mr Speaker, the meat is now down to the bone” at a time he was President under his own government.

“Yet, when you came to this House, you lamented on the same state of the economy that you had presided over and re-echoed the point that we are left with just the bones,” he said.

Fix economy

Mr Afenyo-Markin said: “President again comes to this House with lamentations and packages it as though we have a new beginning.

“Mr Speaker, if he has any concerns, his duty is to fix it,” he said in reaction to the President’s message on the SONA.

The Minority Leader said the President had told Ghanaians that through some arrangements, his government had been able to pay domestic bonds that matured and successfully done some financial engineering to pay some energy sector debt to keep the lights on.

The Minority Leader questioned how the President was able to pay all those debts from an inherited budget of the previous government, given that he had to present his government’s first budget.

“Mr Speaker, he has today told us that we have some 2.2 million Ghanaians unemployed but what he has forgotten is that under his administration in less than 100 days, all we know is sack them, dismissal, dismissal,” Mr Afenyo-Markin suggested.

He alleged that on the streets of Accra today, the youth were decrying the termination of many public sector appointments by his government.

“Mr Speaker, we are happy to hear from the President that he is going to launch the ‘nkoko nketenkete’ project but we are curious because only yesterday we heard of guinea fowls,” he said.

MPs frustrated

Referencing the President’s submission on the status of the School Feeding Programme, Mr Afenyo-Markin took a swipe at him for saying that currently the schoolchildren were being fed well.

“What he did not say was that at the time he assumed office, the previous government had paid every single caterer”.

“What he failed to tell Ghanaians was that President John Agyekum Kufuor who is seated here in this Chamber was the one who initiated the School Feeding Programme,” he averred.  

Accusing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of being the “same old stock that does nothing new”, Mr Afenyo-Markin told the House that just yesterday the youth of the NDC besieged the headquarters of the party in Accra to ask for jobs.

He also cited how the frustration facing a number of NDC MPs was contributing to their frequent absence from the Chamber.

“They are not coming to the Chamber because there are no jobs for them,” he said.

The Minority Leader said the President also failed to acknowledge that he came to meet a peaceful and stable country.