Too many intentions, few achievements in the speech of Nana Addo – Mahama

General News of Friday, February 22, 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-02-22

Former President John Dramani Mahama believes that despite being in power for more than two years, the government does not have much to say, if yesterday's State of the Nation Address was something that was going to happen.

Addressing Accra-based Radio Gold, Mahama described President Nana Akufo-Addo's speech as "too futuristic" and overly focused on what the government plans to do and not enough on what He did it.

"Normally, the State of the Nation Address should inspire some confidence in the people that the government is on the right track. These are the main programs that he will launch during the year.

"If you look at the statement that was made yesterday – I think I will not be the best person to judge because of my own prejudices – but I think it was a bit too futuristic; "The government will do that, we want to do it." After two years at the office. I thought that there would be more solid things to emphasize. Unfortunately, there were not many. It was more about "we intend to do this, we will bring this". "

He said that, despite the guidance given by the President in his statement that the country had a stronger economic base, many Ghanaians were not convinced by his badurances, given their comments after the presentation.

He also noted the comments of a group of unemployed nurses contesting the president's claims that the government has recruited more than 14,000 registered nurses.

"I also listened to the post-address comments and you can see that ordinary Ghanaians were looking for things they did not find in there. In Abossey Okai, they sought relief from import duties and other high fees and royalties, but they did not find them there. If you talk to nurses and teachers, they would like to know more about their plight in terms of unemployment, benefits and opportunities.

"People have even begun to contradict some of the president's statements. [He said] 14,000 nurses were hired, but this morning I was online and the nurses' badociation said that was not true. I think that if you listen to the subsequent comments, the person who wrote the speech would have done a much better job. The purpose of such a speech was to raise the spirits of the nation and I do not know if Ghanaians would really feel elevated. "

Nana Akufo Addo on Thursday delivered her third speech on the state of the nation, addressing several sectors, including health, education, sanitation, sports and the economy.

The former president, however, said some of the statements made by President Akufo-Addo in his speech were flawed, including suggestions that the recent oil discovery was made under the current government.

Mahama added that the improved macroeconomic indicators result from the work of his administration.

"Even in some cases, the president was misinformed, there were some pretty serious mistakes. For example, in the Aker oilfield, they attributed the fine to their government but the discovery was made by Hess in 2013. Aker just came in and made an badessment before being bought in the field. My government has done a lot to generate the kind of income that his government receives.

"We worked on the TEN field, I inaugurated the FPSO Atta-Mills, we commissioned the FPSO John Kufuor; all this work was done under NDC. Fortunately for the president, all the revenues were generated after 2017, so he increased his oil revenues with what we did. Most of the good macroeconomic figures we see are due to the work we have done. "