Parliament concludes debate on state of nation address

Page 15, March 12, 2010
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah

THE DEBATE on the President’s State of the Nation Address, which began last week, has ended with Members of Parliament from the two sides of the House advancing their arguments on whether the address met the expectations of Ghanaians or failed to touch on issues bordering on the living conditions of the people.
As if both sides of the House saved their best for the last day of the debate, the House was set agog when three MPs from each side made their submissions before the MP for Garu-Tempani, Mr Dominic Azumah rounded up the debate, which lasted for seven sitting days.
In his contribution, the Majority Leader, Mr Cletus Avoka stated that the address was not an opportunity to compare the records of past governments with the current government.
He noted that even though it might be necessary to occasionally compare figures or make casual comparisons, one should not spend the whole time comparing two governments.
“In my view, the State of the Nation Address is to afford the President the opportunity to inform us about the state of affairs of the country. So in this respect, the President touches on various policies and programmes, the challenges and how he intends to fix them”.
The Majority Leader noted that the President’s call on Ghanaians to believe in themselves and the nation was a clarion call for Ghanaians to adopt the can do it concept.
He stated that it was important for Ghanaians to have confidence, trust and faith in themselves that they could manage their own affairs.
Mr Avoka added that even though the country’s economy was challenged and depressed by the beginning of January, 2009 with the declining of the cedi, Ghanaians were able to manage the economy successfully.
On food and food security, the Majority Leader said it was welcome news that a Buffer Stock Management Agency would be set up to purchase food for storage during harvesting in order to sell during the lean season.
He said that the policy would reduce post harvest losses and motivate farmers to produce more as a result of guaranteed prices for their produce.
On security, the Majority Leader noted that efforts had been made by the government to reduce the incidence of armed robbery and the use of the country’s territory as transit points for the export of cocaine and other hard drugs.
His assertion that an international report referred to Ghana in 2008 as a cocaine coast instead of gold coast was challenged by the Minority and called for the report to be laid before the House for study by the MPs .
The debate could have degenerated into chaos but for the tact of the Speaker, Mrs Joyce Bamford-Addo after the said report had been laid, it was later withdrawn.
When he took his turn at the debate, the MP for Dormaa West, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu questioned the President’s assertion in his address that the state of the nation was good.
He noted that in a situation where most Ghanaians could not afford two square meals and Ghanaians were queuing for gas, petrol and kerosene, the state of the nation could not be described as good.
Mr Agyeman-Manu alleged that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was in a mess as the government had failed to release funds for the payment of the services of the health providers while beneficiaries of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) had not been paid for some time now.
He stated that the escalating prices of goods did not paint a picture of a good nation and called on the President to sit back and do a re-assessment of his conviction that the state of the nation was good.
For his part, the NDC MP for Mfantseman West, Mr Aquinas Tawia Quansah said that even though the government had done well to improve the local production of rice, more efforts should be made to encourage farmers to further improve on their yield of the crop.
The NPP MP for Okaikoi South, Nana Akomea impressed on the President to ensure that ex-President Kufuor was paid his ex-gratia and allocated with an office and cars as stipulated by the Chinnery-Hesse Committee to ensure fairness.
Other MPs who contributed to the debate were the Minority Chief Whip, Mr Frederick Opare-Ansah who is also the MP for Suhum and Mr J.S Annan, Deputy Minister of Education and MP for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (KEEA).
In her remarks, the Speaker noted that the debate was lively and thanked the MPs for their display of maturity.