House ends debate on sessional address

Page 30, March 4, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
DEBATE on the State of the Nation Address presented to Parliament by President John Evans Atta Mills on Tuesday, February 19, 2009 ended yesterday, with Members of Parliament (MPs) either commending the President for his excellent vision or castigating him for his failure to include in his address a number of issues on other sectors of the economy.
The NDC MP for Tamale Central, Mr Inusah Fuseini, who moved the motion for the House to thank the President for his address, stated that the views expressed by MPs from both sides of the House had been candid, useful, important and valuable.
He said the quality of the debate would go a long way to enrich the vision of the President to work towards building a better country for the benefit of both the present and future generations.
Mr Inusah said some views by MPs, particularly those from the Minority, had been very critical, adding that that notwithstanding, “such criticisms are part of the current democratic dispensation”.
Tracing events leading to Ghana’s independence, the NPP MP for Dome-Kwabenya and Second Deputy Speaker, Professor Mike Oquaye, said Ghanaians could not pretend that the independence of the country was solely propelled by Dr Kwame Nkrumah, explaining that “Ghana does not have any one founder”.
He stated that although it would not be wrong to declare Dr Nkrumah’s birthday as a national holiday, it would be wrong to create an impression that he was the founder of the country, without acknowledging the work of the other members of “the Big Six”, as well as those who preceded them.
He called on Ghanaians to acknowledge the fact the country’s independence was a collective effort, not the effort of an individual, to enable the country to continue to enjoy its oneness and unity of purpose.
Contributing to the debate, the NPP MP for Afigya Sekyere, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, said the NDC administration had been presented with an opportunity due to the current fall in the price of crude oil from $140 a barrel to below $40 to reduce the price of the commodity to alleviate the suffering of the masses.
He welcomed the President’s decision to resolve the financial problems of the Volta River Authority and the Electricity Company of Ghana.
The MP, however, advised the government to be bold enough to allow the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to do its work without any political interference, since such political decisions had been the bane of the VRA and the ECG.
For his part, the NDC MP for Shama, Mr George Essilfie, chastised the past administration for spending eight years characterised by excessive spending.
He said it was unfortunate that the NPP tradition criticised both the Nkrumah and Rawlings regimes for borrowing for a number of infrastructural projects, yet found it expedient to contract loans to embark on ventures such as the presidential palace, the 50th anniversary celebration and the national awards.
When it was his turn, the NDC MP for Krachi East, Mr Wisdom Gidisu, called on people who had been entrusted with responsibilities by the current administration to work towards the provision of the needed infrastructure in the rural areas to minimise the current rural-urban drift.
He commended the President for his vision to provide hospitals in every district and expressed the hope that if that was carried through, it would go a long way to provide for the health needs of the people.
Mr Gidisu also called for the provision of teachers’ quarters throughout the country to entice teachers to accept posting to rural areas to contribute to efforts at providing quality education in the country.