The president Nana Akufo-Addo presents his first state of the nation address to Parliament in accordance with Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. He arrives at exactly 10:00 am, goes through the formalities and ushured in to present his state of the nation address.
Myjoyonline.com brings you highlights of the address..
- Good to be back here where I spent 12 years of my parliamentary career.
- Mahama’s conduct has been a credit to our nation.
- I am first Ghanaian leader to draw from the experience of three living ex-presidents.
- Commends the EC and Charlotte Osei for the conduct of elections which received international acclaim
- Incidents during transition marred the beauty of the peaceful elections
- I expected John Kudalor to apply the law. And instructed same to his successor.
- Incidents happened on the principle of equalization. I condemn all acts and from both party members.
- I am in a hurry to put a government together. I am in a hurry.
- All must tackle every task expected of him or her expeditiously.
- Our economy is in a bad state. Our worse fears have been confirmed.
- Ghana missed all its targets under the IMF
- Fiscal indiscipline reared its head in 2016
- 7 billion cedis arrears had not been recorded.
- Fiscal indiscipline reared its head in 2016 despite promises in 2012
- Ghana’s debt stock in 2008 was 9.5 billion cedis but in 2016 the debt is now 122 billion cedis which is 74% of GDP.
- We will implement tough, prudent and innovative policies to rescue the economy.
- After eight years of NDC there is no fiscal space. The country now has to borrow for everything.
- Our economy growth rate has shrunk. Our GDP is estimated at 3.6% lowest in about 23 years.
- Too much time and resources were spent in the last year without a deliberate plan
- I was not elected to complain. I was elected to get things done. I was elected to fix what is broken and my government and i will do just that.
- My Finance Minister will lay the policies bear next week.
- We have the program the men, the competence and good will of people to get things done.
- We have no choice to reduce budget deficit and public spending
- We will complete National Identification Policy this year
- We will boost the private sector
- We will concentrate on agriculture.
- Unavailability of Jobs is a huge problem in our country. Our youth want jobs but there is none. One district one factory policy will address that challenge.
- Energy sector has caused havoc and brought many organisations to their knees. The attempt to solve the problem has left a gargantuan debt. We inherited a heavily indebted energy sector. $2.4bn net debt with 800bn is owed to local banks. There are some improvements in the energy sector but the problem is far from over.
- My government will insist on procurement processes.
- We need further dialogue on the privatization of ECG
- Education is key and holds Ghana’s future development
- Free SHS begins this year.
- The ECOWAS mission in Gambia was successful. About 3000 soldiers involved in peace keeping across the globe. They will be paid their entitlements at post and not on their return to Ghana.
- $13m arrears owed the peace keepers have been cleared by my government. Contingents in the Gambia have been paid all allowances in full.
- We need a more professional police service.
- People fantasize about authoritarianism but i have an unshakeable belief in democracy and rule of law. That is the Ghanaian way. That is the Akufo-Addo way.
- All three arms of government must change the way it does things.
- State functions start and close late. We must punctual to time and i intend to set a personal example.
- The change we voted for means a change for a better sanitation.
- We need consensus on national issues. It is not right that the issues of founders day are still not settled. We need a national conversation and dialogue about these issues that will reflect the national consensus.
Source: myjoyonline.com| Ghana
