President delivers State of the Nation Address today

The attention of the over 26 million Ghanaians will be on Parliament House Thursday when President John Dramani Mahama delivers his last State of The Nation Address of his first term in office to the people’s representatives in Parliament.

It is an occasion for the President to outline some of his accomplishments over the past three years.

On the flip side, he would be fair to admit the difficulties that have confronted his administration and move to establish grounds to tackle the challenges in the last lap of his four-year mandate

The State of the Nation Address is a constitutional requirement. 

Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution states: “The President shall, at the beginning of each session of Parliament and before the dissolution of Parliament, deliver to Parliament a message on the state of the nation.”

Leaders of political parties, members of the Diplomatic Corps and a cross-section of Ghanaians are expected to be in Parliament House to listen to the delivery.

In line with tradition, the President’s presentation will cover all the major sectors, notably health, education, social protection, sports, the economy, agriculture and Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

But there are some key areas where the people’s attention will be focused.

Economic challenges

Doubtless, the economy will be a major area for attention.

President Mahama’s administration has endured some economic challenges and the lawmakers and, indeed, the millions across the country who will be glued to their television and radio sets to listen to the address would want to hear how the country has emerged from the difficulties.

In 2015, he spoke about moves to transform the economy from an import-centred one to an export-oriented economy and mentioned that initiatives which had been introduced the previous year had already started yielding dividends.

The Ghanaian people will be ready to listen to how much progress has been made since last year.

Power

One other critical area where the President will surely tout his success is the power sector.

In the address in 2015, he mentioned some of the interventions the government had put in place to address the challenge and made a firm promise to fix the problem.

“We have climbed many hills together and we shall climb many more. One of such hills is to provide power for Ghanaians. The effect of this power crisis has affected all Ghanaians. We have been here before in 1998, 2007.

“In the past, what we have done is try to manage ourselves out of the situation. I do not intend to manage the situation as has been done in the past, I intend to fix it. I owe it to the Ghanaian people. I, John Dramani Mahama, will fix this energy challenge,” he had said on that occasion.

Today, the power crisis appears to have come to an end.

Elections

The address coming months from a general election in which he is seeking re-election, the President may use the opportunity to reassure the nation of peaceful, free and fair elections.

The international community is keeping a close eye on the country, which is touted as the bastion of democracy in Africa, and with the opposition consistently raising doubt about fair polls in November, the President may move to calm nerves.

Corruption

Corruption, once again, will be a major point in the President’s address.

In 2015, he admitted how disturbing the canker had become and mentioned some of the areas where the problem persisted.

"Ghana is bleeding from all of these acts of mismanagement and malfeasance and leadership at all levels should take responsibility for their areas of oversight and will be made to do so. We must all support the fight against corruption,” he had said.

Today, Ghanaians will expect the President to explain how far he has gone in tackling corruption.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure, especially in the road sector, is one area where the government prides itself as having performed creditably.

In last year’s State of the Nation Address, President Mahama took his time to give a regional breakdown of road construction in the country, mentioning completed and ongoing projects.

How far the ongoing ones have reached will please the people.

Security

Expectations are that the President will give everyone a fair idea of initiatives to secure the safety of Ghanaians in an era when terrorism and other forms of extremism are taking root in some African countries.