The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has stated that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s “actions speak louder than [his] words.”
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu who doubles as the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs said despite the gains the Akufo-Addo-led government has chalked in the three years it has been in office, the President acknowledges that there was more to be done.
“Mr Speaker, the President acknowledged when he presented a message on the state of the nation that in spite of the good results that have been attained in various facets of our national lives a lot still remain to be done, especially in infrastructure delivery,” he observed.
The Suame Member of Parliament made these observations on the floor of Parliament in Accra yesterday to wind up the debate on the President’s state of the nation address delivered to the House on February 20.
The House had subsequently approved the message as the true state of the nation.
The Minority caucus walked out on the President and had stayed away from the five-day debate, a decision the Majority Leader said was “unjustifiable, regrettable, lamentable, unfortunate and embarrassing.”
Cataloging some of the things he said were the achievements of President Akufo-Addo, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said the economy which grew by 2.8 per cent had more than doubled.
“The country is self-sufficient in the basic staples including cassava and plantain and we are no longer importing these produce from Côte d’Ivoire.
“We have not imported maize over the past two years, rather, Ghana is exporting maize,” he said.
The banking sector, he said, has been cleaned and that the sector was more robust than the government met it.
“We have successfully exited the IMF and taken control of the management of our own affairs. We have attained trade surplus for the first time in 20 years.
“The rate of depreciation of the cedi has slowed down. Ghana’s sovereign ratings have climbed up under President Akufo-Addo. We have given employment to over 1.5 million people in the informal sector. We have employed over 350,000 people to render service in the public space.
“Teacher training allowance has been restored, nursing training allowance, free Senior High School has been introduced and is working,” he said to loud cheers from his side of the House.
Additionally, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said 340 out of 560 dams have either been completed or were near completion in partial fulfillment of the One village One dam project he said.
He called on Ghanaians to give the President another term to do more.
The House, meanwhile, has by a resolution approved a US$23,983,033 tax waiver for the Platinum Properties Limited for the Pullman Accra City Hotel Serviced Apartment project.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
