Debates of 14 Mar 2023

Hon
Members, we do not have any message
from the President, neither do we have
any formal communication from the Rt
Hon Speaker. So, we would turn to the
item numbered 4 in today's Order Paper — Correction of Votes and Proceedings and the Official Report. We will start
with the Votes and Proceedings of
Friday, 10th March, 2023.
Page 1…13?

Mr Speaker, I
am sorry for taking you back.
Fortunately, the Hon First Deputy
Majority Whip, Ms Lydia Seyram
Alhassan, is in the Chamber. I would like
to know if “DigitALL” in the item numbered 8(i) under “Statements” — I could not be here to see how the Hon
Member couched her words. I would like
to know if she meant to say “Digital” or “DigitALL”. I can understand “Digital”, but “DigitALL” — if it is the Hon
Member's own technical term or coinage, I have no difficulty with that,
but I would like to hear from her to know
if this was the caption of her Statement.

Hon
Member for Tamale South, what page
are you referring to?

Mr Speaker,
page 9.

Mr
Speaker, I thank you. That is the theme
for this year's celebration. “DigitALL”. [Interruption] — Yes, it is the global theme.

Very
well.
Page 14…23?
Mr Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-
Markin: Mr Speaker, page 9 and 10,
particularly page 10, the Hon Member
for Bolgatanga Central who seconded
the Motion — it has been correctly captured here as “…Deputy Ranking Member of the Finance Committee, Mr
Isaac Adongo”.
Mr Speaker, the media captured it as
“Ranking Member”, and they have been saying so ever since. I would just like
that correction to be well noted because
we do not have a Committee's Report that has redesignated the Hon Member's rank or promoted him to Ranking
Member of the Finance Committee yet.
We do not have that in the records of
Parliament, so I just wanted that to be
taken care of.

Hon
Deputy Majority Leader, I believe the
Votes and Proceedings has captured it
rightly.

Mr Speaker, it
is rightly so from these records, I would
just like the public to rely on our record.
That is all I am saying.

Hon
Deputy Majority Leader, my issue is that
we are not dealing with the public. We
are dealing with —

Mr Speaker, it
is important. Public education is very
important. The work we do here should
not be misrepresented. The media
captured him as being the Hon Ranking
Member on the Finance Committee.
However, we have done the right thing
so they should lift what we have done
here for public consumption. I just want

Order!
Order! Hon Members, please.

Hon Members,
please let me finish.
Mr Speaker, it is part of our duties to
educate and inform the public. All I am
saying is that there is nothing like acting
Hon Ranking Member. We have not
received a report yet on any Committee
reshuffle. So, I would just want the media to
take note of the record here that this is the
record of Parliament.

Mr Speaker, we are correcting the Votes
and Proceedings. On page 10 of the
Votes and Proceedings, the designation
of the Hon Member is correctly captured.
The Hon Member for Bolgatanga is the
Hon Deputy Ranking Member for
Finance Committee.
Mr Speaker, there is no error, so let it
be clear that the Hon Minority Leader,
Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, is still the
Hon Ranking Member for Finance and
the Hon Member is the Hon Deputy
Ranking Member. God willing, the Hon
Deputy Ranking Member would become
the Hon Ranking Member. [Some Hon

Hon
Members, in the absence of any
corrections, the Votes and Proceedings
of Friday, 10th March, 2023, is hereby
adopted as the true record of procee-
dings.
Hon Members, I have in my hands
the Official Report of Monday, 25th July,
2022.

Yes,
Hon Deputy Majority Leader, any
indication as to whether we should vary
the order of Business?

Mr Speaker,
we are ready for the continuation of the
debate on the Message of the State of the
Nation , and the Hon Member for Tano
North, Dr Freda Akosua Prempeh, is
ready to begin for us. She would be
followed by the Hon Member for
Dormaa East, Mr Paul Apreku Twum-
Barimah.

Hon
Members, so does this mean that we are
varying the order of Business?

Yes, Mr Speaker. We
have agreed that we vary the order of
Business and start the debate on the
Message on the State of the Nation.

Mr Speaker,
just for the record, the —

Order!
Order!
Hon Members, there is too much
noise in the Chamber. Please.
Yes, Hon Deputy Majority Leader?

Mr Speaker,
just for the record, the Hon Minister for
Education appropriately transmitted a
communication from his office to
yourself indicating why he would be
unavoidably absent.
Mr Speaker, we have discussed that
as Leadership and we have no objection;
it is the basis for varying the order of
Business to enable us to proceed with the
debate.
Mr Speaker, so, that should reflect in
our records. I thank you.

Mr Speaker, indeed, the
Hon Deputy Majority Leader informed
us about the Hon Minister's request that he would not be present.
Mr Speaker, let the record be very
clear — I am sure that the Hon Deputy Majority Leader got the information this
morning after we had scheduled the Hon
Minister to answer 10 Questions this
morning.
Mr Speaker, Orders 60 and 64 of our
Standing Orders are very clear. There are
clear processes for sending information
to Hon Ministers and also giving them
time to prepare. A day was set for the
Questions to be answered, only for us to
be notified that the Hon Minister cannot
do so. That is not very helpful to the
work of Parliament, and that must be
said.
On that note, Mr Speaker, I think the
Hon Minister must be notified by the
Clerk on when he would come and
answer the Questions. However, we
should do everything possible to com-
municate to the Hon Ministers that if
they cannot answer Questions, they must
write to Parliament ahead of time and not
wait until the morning of the day when
the Questions are to be answered.
Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Very
well.

Hon Members, I invite you to page 8

of today's Order Paper. We would continue the debate on the Motion to

thank His Excellency the President for

the Message on the State of the Nation he

delivered to us and, for that matter, the

nation as a whole on 8th March, 2023.

So, on that note, I will invite the Hon

Member for Dormaa East, Mr Paul

Apreku Twum-Barimah to begin the

debate.

Mr Speaker, I
made an application to vary our list for
the Hon Member for Tano North, Dr
Freda Akosua Prempeh, to begin.

Very
well.
Hon Member for Dormaa East,
kindly hold on a bit as I give the Floor
first to your Hon Senior Colleague. So,
Dr Freda Prempeh, Hon Member for
Tano North, is to begin the debate on
thanking the President for the message
that he delivered to the nation.
So, Hon Member, you have the Floor
now.

Hon
Member for Tano North, kindly hold on.
Hon Member for Bodi, what is it?

Mr Speaker,
you said the other time that there would
not be any intervention, so I would like
to finish.

Hon
Member for Tano North, no Hon
Member would interrupt you.
Hon Member for Bodi, what is it?

Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague said that
all of us in the House have benefitted
from the road infrastructure being done
by His Excellency the President. I would
like her to know that Bodi Constituency
has never benefitted from the road
developments going on. So, when she is
speaking, she should refer to herself, not
all of us. So far as Bodi Constituency is
concerned, we have not benefitted. That
is just to guide her.

Hon
Members, last week's arrangement still exists. We will not entertain any point of
order or intervention. If you have
anything to say, just jot it down, and raise
it when it gets to your turn.
Hon Member for Bodi, if I had
known that this was what you wanted to
say, I would not have allowed you to
speak.
Hon Member for Tano North, you
have the Floor, kindly continue.

Mr Speaker, I
am even surprised at my Hon
Colleagues. We were in Ho recently, and
I was amazed at the level of road
constructions from Accra to Ho, within
Ho, and other parts of this country. So,
they cannot tell me that they have not
benefitted from the Akufo-Addo
Government's year of roads. It happened

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

in Accra and all regions across this

country. Road construction is capital

intensive, and it is like pregnancy; it

cannot be hidden, it is evident for

everybody to see.

Mr Speaker, His Excellency the

President rolled out a very important

policy in this country.

Mr Sam Nartey George — rose —

Hon
Member for Ningo/Prampram, no, I will
not take that.

Mr Speaker,
this is a House of record.

Hon
Member, no, I would not take that. I said
that if you have anything to say, not it
down and raise it when you get the
opportunity to speak.

Mr Speaker, but the
people of Ningo/Prampram are listening.
She is lying.

Mr Speaker,
my Hon Colleague just said that I am
lying, and I think that it is unparlia-
mentary, so he has to withdraw it.

Hon
Member for Ningo/Prampram—
Hon Members, please, let us take
note. I said it last week and I will say it
again that we would not entertain any
point of order.
Hon Member for Ningo/Prampram,
the Hon Member for Tano North did not
mention your name.
Hon Member for Tano North, let us
hear you.

Mr Speaker, I
am surprised my Hon Colleague always
wants his name to be in the Hansard for
the wrong purposes. I have not
mentioned Ningo/Prampram, but of
course, there has been some road
constructions in Accra and all over. I did
not mention Ningo/Prampram, so why
does the Hon Member for Ningo/
Prampram want his name to be
mentioned? He should not take part of
my time.
Mr Speaker, His Excellency the
President rolled out two very important
policies, which are the Free Senior High
School (SHS) Policy and the Technical
and Vocational Education and Training
(TVET) Policy, and because of that,
enrolment has increased, and this
increment has come with infrastructure.
We have seen massive educational
infrastructure across the country. We
have seen massive infrastructure in all
the 34 TVET schools in Ghana,
including Yamfo Vocational Training
Institute in my Constituency. My Hon
Friend, Mr Haruna Iddrisu would attest
to the fact that there has been a difference
in Yamfo Vocational Training Institute.
There has been hostels, resource centres,
Information Communication Technology
(ICT) centres, and computer laboratories
all across the country. That is the state of
the nation that we find ourselves in:
building infrastructure. Whether health,

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

educa-tional and roads infrastructure,

His Excellency the President is working

very hard to ensure that Ghanaians get

development at their doorsteps.

Mr Speaker, because of the good

policy, now TVET enrolment has even

quadrupled from 13,000 in 2021 to

47,000 in less than one year. All these

people would come out to train other

people in their areas.

Mr Speaker, we have also rolled out

massive social intervention programmes.

The agriculture sector has seen a lot of

boost: Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ)

Programme, and cocoa pollination.

Mr Speaker, we were in this country

when cholera broke out. Unfortunately,

it took the lives of over 200 innocent

people due to insanitary conditions in

this country. When President Akufo-

Addo's Government came, in less than four years, we have been able to increase

toilet facilities from 33 per cent to 59 per

cent. Have we heard of any cholera

outbreak recently? That is a massive

development.

Mr Speaker, I would also like to add

that in the midst of all these challenges,

during COVID-19, a lot of women lost

their jobs, especially in the tourism,

micro-finance, and small-scale sectors.

However, this Government put systems

and structures in place to support

Ghanaians to the tune of GH₵518 million as grants and loans, and I am

happy to know that out of this lot, about

60 per cent of the moneys went to

women.

Mr Speaker, in addition, during COVID-19, about 58,041 people were recruited to support the health workers, and I must say that in the midst of all these challenges, all these people have been absorbed into the Ghana Health Service workforce.

Mr Speaker, we have all enjoyed

peace and security in this country, and I believe that it is because of the systems and structures that His Excellency the President has put in place to support the security services. We have enjoyed 30 years of peaceful democracy.

Mr Speaker, Police visibility is all

over the place for everybody to see. Recently, His Excellency the President delivered 100 pick-up vehicles, 600 motorbikes, 600 personnel carriers, and the first in our history, a dedicated helicopter to the Ghana Police Service to support them.

Mr Speaker, it is true that we are not

in normal times, but through it all, we have made a lot of strides. I was talking about roads infrastructure and the Hon Members on the other Side were heckling me. We could go to the Pokuase Interchange, Tema-Accra motorway, Obetsebi Lamptey Phase I, Tamale, East Legon, Nungua Interchange, Flowerpot Interchange, Takoradi, Kpong, and Savannah. All these infrastructure have been put in place.

Mr Speaker, in some jurisdictions,

post COVID-19 is so difficult that people even have to queue to buy fruits, vegetables and oil from shops. However, in our part of the world, by the dint of hard work, His Excellency the President

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

has been able to put systems and structures in place to ensure that we always have food on our table. We have not seen anybody queue in the market or any of our supermarkets to buy food. We have not seen anybody queue to buy fuel or ration fuel in this country. Through it all, even though it has been difficult, His Excellency the President has been able to manage this economy very well.

Mr Speaker, we have not experienced

any dumsor. I believe that we were in

South Africa recently, and we know what

is happening there. We were also in

Germany last year and we know what is

happening there. People cannot buy two

or three bottles of oil at the same time.

What do we see in this country? Apart

from all these, we have been able to

secure support for the youth to also find

space wherever they find themselves.

Mr Speaker, during the COVID-19

pandemic, the President put structures in

place to ensure that our educational

system was not interrupted. The Free

Senior High School (Free SHS) and the

basic education systems were put in

place to ensure that they run shifts and

that pupils would not just sit idle at

home. We were able to go through this.

We have seen the roads infrastructure I

talked about.

Mr Speaker, we were in this country

when somebody said he was not going to

pay nursing and teacher training

allowances. We were in this country

when somebody said they could not

provide even chalk, but even in the midst

of all these challenges, look at the

massive infrastructure: health, education

and railway infrastructure that are being

rolled out. We are not denying anybody

of anything.

Mr Speaker, we have enjoyed

security in this country because our

security services are well equipped and I

heard my Hon Minister for Defence

telling all of us that their salaries have

also been increased. They are happy and

they are working very well to ensure that

we continue to maintain peace and

security in this country.

Mr Speaker, we would continue to

thank His Excellency the President for

being so truthful to us as a country and

for letting Ghanaians know that all is not

lost. Through it all, in the midst of all

these challenges, we would still make it;

we would still construct our roads, and

pay salaries. We paid teachers when they

even sat at home during the COVID-19

pandemic. We did not say, as it was done

in other jurisdictions, that because the

teachers were not working at that

moment, they would not be paid. The

President paid them. He paid health

allowances and he is still paying salaries

and still works to ensure that all our

infrastructure —

We live in a dynamic country and

world. This country is not static, so

through urbanisation, modernisation and

the movement of people and properties,

definitely, people are even moving to the

outskirts of Accra. So, we would

continue to: construct more roads,

drains, sea defence; empower women

and children in this country; enhance our

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Technical and Vocational Education and

Training (TVET) schools; support the

health sector; pay salaries; and enhance

the agricultural sector so that we would

all have a very good place to live in.

Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the

President once again for making sure that

the military and for that matter the

security service and national security are

provided with a lot of equipment and

logistics. The peace and security we are

all enjoying here is because some of

these structures, equipment and logistics

that they need to work, to dialogue and

compromise are provided.

Mr Speaker, I, once again, want to

thank the President for being so candid

with us. His Excellency the President did

not mince words. His submission was

evidence-based. Everything he has done

in this country is there for all of us to

know and I could assure all of us and we

all know, each one of us sitting here have

benefited from this Government one way

or the other in terms of health delivery,

roads, and infrastructure. We have all

benefited. If they have not benefited

from this Government, just let your —

We should all tell our constituents

that the 2024 elections is not going to be

a do or die affair but it would be an

evidence-based campaign. His

Excellency the President has, once again,

assured us in his presentation to the

House on the last page and I beg to quote:

This is a phase, and, with [every

fibre] of my being, I am certain that

this too shall pass. We have done it

before and we would do it again.

No matter the situation that we go through as a country; no matter the challenges we are going through after COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war; no matter the economic situation we find ourselves in, we are not rationing fuel and food. We are not queuing for fuel; there is no dumsor. There is peace and security. Infrastructure is going on; roads, railway and health infrastructure are all going on. This is the state of the nation that the President told us about and he wants all of us as Ghanaians to be patriotic and to support him so that come 2024, he would continue to roll out more infrastructure for this country.

Mr Speaker, I thank you for this

opportunity given to me to thank the President for appearing before this House to give us the Message on the State of the Nation.

Like I said, we have massive

digitalisation going on in this country and we have experienced massive peace and security. I think that everything that this Government has done is not transient. It is evidence-based and it is there for everybody to see, and the good people of Ghana are going to continue to vote for the NPP based on the good works we have done even in the midst of all these challenges.

I spoke to the House about cholera

and I even thought that if Ebola had broken out at that time, what would have happened to Ghanaians? This is because we could not contain even cholera and we lost over 200 lives. This President has been able to contain the situation of COVID-19. Even though we have lost some beloved ones and a few friends, but through it and above all, we have been

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

able to make sure that this country is still running the way it was before COVID- 19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.

I would like to thank you, Mr

Speaker, for this opportunity, but, once again, let me remind Ghanaians that all is not lost. We still have hope and this too shall pass. We should all continue to support the NPP Government to continue to deliver on its promises.

Thank you very much.
Hon Members, please, I am
monitoring the time. The instructions that were given out is that Hon Ministers of State as well as Ranking Members and Committee Chairpersons would have 15 minutes. So, the time is here and I am monitoring. — She is an Hon Minister of State that is why I gave her 15 minutes. Please, allow me to do what is right. That is the instruction I was given and I am following it religiously.
Now, we come to Mr Kwabena
Mintah Akandoh.
Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh
(NDC — Juaboso): I am most grateful, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Message on the State of the Nation. I heard my Hon Colleague who just spoke say that we have peace and security in this country. I wonder whether she has been in this country within the past one month and whether she is aware of what is going on in Bawku, Ashaiman, and Wa. Mr Speaker, all is not well with this country. The state of Ghana is that of utter shock and disbelief.
Mr Speaker, on page 3, the last
paragraph of the Message on the State of
the Nation delivered by His Excellency
the President, he stated that he was going
to talk about health and infrastructure.
Conspicuously missing was the Agenda
111 and I am not surprised that he did not
talk about the Agenda 111 in detail
because all is not well with it.
Mr Speaker, during the eighth
COVID-19 update delivered by the
President, he promised the good people
of this country the construction of health
facilities. The project was delayed and
they com-menced it somewhere in
August 2021. During the sod cutting
ceremony, His Excellency the President
had this to say and with your permission,
I would like to quote:
Each hospital is being constructed at
a cost of US$16.88 million, that is
US$12.88 million for construction
and US$4 million for medical
equipment. All the hospitals are to
be completed in 18 months. Works
would commence on the regional
and other hospitals in the latter part
of the year
Mr Speaker, this is what the President
said when he was cutting sod for the
commencement of Agenda 111.

Again, during the 28th update, the

President changed his position and with

your permission, I would want to quote

again:

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Work is currently underway and,

therefore, the end of my tenure of

office on 7th January, 2025 all 111

hospitals would have been

commissioned.

In last year's Message on the State of the Nation, this position was affirmed

that before the President hands over on

the 7th January, 2025, all the 111

hospitals would have been delivered.

When the President speaks, he must

speak the truth; nothing but the truth. As

far as Ghana is concerned, when our

President speaks, we do not know

whether or not he is speaking the truth.

Mr Speaker, this statement turns out

to be untrue. I say so because the Agenda

111 Secretariat made a presentation to

the Parliamentary Select Committee on

Health, led by the Chief Director at the

Presidency. At the meeting, this is the

forecast they gave to the Committee. Mr

Speaker, do not forget that the President

has said that he would deliver all the 111

hospitals before he leaves office, but at

the Committee level, this is what they

had to say. They said, under the com-

pletion forecast; they needed US$300

million to complete 20 per cent of the

projects in 2024.

Mr Speaker, on the next bullet point, they said that 20 per cent of the hospitals could be completed in 2025. The next one says, 30 per cent of the hospitals could be completed by 2027. Again, he said, 30 per cent of the hospitals could be completed after 2027 when Mr President is no longer the President of the Republic of Ghana. Why would he say that he

would deliver all the 111 hospitals when it is not true?

Mr Speaker, the real state of the

Agenda 111 is that millions of dollars have been given to contractors and yet, they are not on site. I would give you examples. If we go to a place like Akrofuom in the Akrofuom District, about US$839 million has been given to the contractor, yet he was not on site at the Committee's last visit. Again, in Adeiso in the Upper West Akim District, about US$100,078,000 has been given to the contractor and yet, he was not at site. At Kwabenakwa in the Obuasi East District, about US$1,078,000 has also been given to the contractor and yet, he is not on site. Jasikan is no exception. So, this is the clear state of the nation, where millions of dollars have been given to contractors and individuals and yet, no work is being done. This is a fact and nobody can contest it. This goes to the waste and corruption we have been talking about all this while.

Mr Speaker, let me move to another

very sensitive issue. In this day and age, one would have expected that we should not be talking about the outbreak of measles on the floor of Parliament. Measles, tuberculosis, and polio are not

like COVID-19 which we just discovered. We started fighting these diseases as far back as 1977; especially with the introduction of the expanded programme on immunisation introduced by the World Bank. As recent as October 2022, we had an outbreak of measles in Karaga, Gushegu, Tamale and its environs. This smacks of incompetence and lack of forward planning.

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Mr Speaker, we sit in this House and

approve the National Health Insurance

formula every year. In this formula, we

make provisions for the procurement of

these vaccines. We realised that these

releases have been done and yet, we do

not have vaccines in this country. It

would interest you to know that we have

not less than 10 vaccines, and most of

these vaccines are being sponsored by

the Global Alliance for Vaccines and

Immunization (GAVI), and only three

are supposed to be sponsored 100 per

cent by us, yet we cannot buy the three

vaccines. If we are asked to buy the 13

vaccines, can we buy them?

Mr Speaker, the President, on the

floor of this House, said that we had

recorded no deaths. The Hon Minister

also repeated on this Floor that no death

had been recorded, and that is, again,

palpable falsehood. According to the

Northern Regional paediatrician at the

Tamale Teaching Hospital, Prof Mumin

Alhassan, we have recorded about five

fatalities. What is even worse is that we

cannot even get reagents to confirm tests

at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for

Medical Research (NMIMR). This is the

state of the country. These are facts. We

cannot even get reagents to confirm

hundreds, if not thousands, of test

samples that have been sent to Noguchi.

The President has been told but he

complained, just like me; and whined

and lamented about the issue, yet he

never provided any solution when he

appeared on the floor of the House.

Mr Speaker, on Saturday, we heard

that Ghana has taken delivery of some vaccines, but what they did not add was

that these vaccines were coming from Nigeria. Of course, I have absolutely no problem if the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) confirms that these are good vaccines, but the bigger question is that how come Nigeria has excess vaccines and we do not have? I think that we should not even have gotten here in the first place. More to the point, the vaccines that we have taken delivery of can only last for six weeks, so we should not make noise that we have come out of the situation. We should rather think about how we could get more vaccines to save the vulnerable babies in this country. Per the 1992 Constitution, everybody, including babies, have the right to good healthcare in this country. The President himself, the Vice President, and the Minister for Health all had the opportunity to get vaccines to vaccinate their children including their grandchildren, so every child in this country, deserves to be vaccinated. Mr Speaker, that is the real state of this country.

Mr Speaker, when my Hon

Colleague was speaking, he talked about the fact that His Excellency the President said that they had engaged about 58,000 workers in the health sector. The real state of the nation is that the health professionals are leaving in droves. By the first half of last year, not less than 3,000 nurses left the shores of this country. There are some specialists such as those in charge of feet and legs who have left and now we do not even have any specialists, due to the hard economic realities in this country.

Mr Speaker, let me quote these

numbers. In the 2021 Budget Statement,

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

the workforce of the health sector was reported to be 251,527; in the 2023 Budget Statement, it was reported to be 182,233. If we employ low skilled people to help in contact tracing and we are losing more than 69,000 people, what have we done? The real state of the nation is that today, the nurses who are doing their rotations have not been paid for the past 18 months; that is the real state of the nation.

Mr Speaker, I think that we should be

speaking the truth as leaders of this

country. The President made frantic

efforts to justify the recklessness with

which they handled the COVID-19

expenditure, but unfortunately, because

Ghanaians are discerning it fell on deaf

ears. How can anyone justify that if they

spent GH₵32 million on seminars and meetings, there is nothing wrong with it?

How can the President say this? How can

he say that in a matter of less than one

year, if they spend more than GH₵200 million on hand sanitisers, there is

nothing wrong with it? How can he say

that we paid more than US$600,000 to

take ambulances as far back as January

2022, and up to now, we have not had our

money nor the ambulances and there is

nothing wrong with it? How can he tell

us we have paid not less than US$82

million to receive Johnson & Johnson

vaccines, and we have not had the

vaccines nor our money and yet the

President says that there is nothing

wrong with this? I think that we must be

serious as a country and do what is

expected of us as leaders; we cannot be

doing things as usual.

Mr Speaker, again, in a matter of one

to two years, not less than GH₵22 billion

from various quarters including

International Monetary Fund (IMF) and

the World Bank has been pumped into

this economy because of COVID-19. If

one gets GH₵22 billion in the economy

because of COVID-19, one can certainly

not blame the ills in the economy on

COVID-19 because it gave us money.

Hon
Member, you should begin to land.

Mr Speaker,
certainly, the attempt by the President to
always be at the forefront in clearing his
appointees is unbecoming of him. I think
that the real state of the country is that it
is sick and bleeding in the hands of the
President and the Vice President, Alhaji
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the

Hon
Members, it is now the turn of the Hon
Member for Dormaa East, Mr Paul
Apreku Twum-Barima.
Mr Paul Apreku Twum-Barima
(NPP — Dormaa East): I thank you Mr
Speaker, for the opportunity to
contribute to the Motion ably moved by
the Hon Deputy Majority Leader that this
honourable House thanks His Excellency
the President for the Message on the
State of the Nation, which was delivered
to the good people of Ghana through
Parliament.

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Mr Speaker, all is well with this

country and I find it a bit strange that my

senior Hon Colleague, Mr Akandoh said

all is not well while he knows that all is

well with him. I have no doubt that H. E.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,

pursuant to Article 67, delivered a

message which every Ghanaian has

accepted as inspiring and hopeful, and a

message that we all can relate to and Mr

Akandoh knows very well that he is able

to relate to that.

Mr Speaker, indeed, the President

was genuine, truthful, and was able to

accept the fact that we are in challenging

times, [Some Hon Members: And you

said all is well] but in all this, the

President has also proven that the

country has been put on the path that is

heading towards a point that we all

would enjoy, and that is why all is well.

Mr Speaker, in the message of His

Excellency, he spoke about a lot of

things including energy and everything

that is making this country a better one.

In terms of energy, before His

Excellency took the reins of this country,

we were in shambles, we were in dumsor

and we were struggling. Indeed, in 2016,

the Government brought a policy to this

House to curtail dumsor. They said we

should put off our deep freezers, use one

mobile phone and not be charging

phones anyhow. That was the way

Government wanted to handle a

challenge that emanated from the

country.

Mr Speaker, at that time, borders and

ports were not closed and we were not

asked to stay in our rooms. But we were

struggling to handle this issue. During

COVID-19 when challenges were high,

borders and ports had been closed and we

were asked to stay in our homes, we had

been able to even increase our electricity

support from 79 to 88.5 per cent. That is

good governance. Indeed, the President,

in his statement, made it clear that by

2024, 90 per cent of Ghanaians would

enjoy electricity regardless of the

challenges that we are facing. That is

good governance, and that is the true

state of this country.

Mr Speaker, our industrial

companies would enjoy stable light to

ensure that the industry grows well. As

we speak, we are replacing all the old

cables across the western, eastern,

coastal and the middle corridors. This is

to ensure that industry is well prepared to

put the country on a stable light; this is

good governance, it is the true state of the

country, and all is well.

Mr Speaker, if one goes to Nigeria, a

country that is very close to us, they are

queuing for fuel. Kenyans are also

queuing for fuel, and not too long ago,

even in France, they were queuing for

fuel. But if one comes to Ghana and

visits any of our filling stations, they are

relaxed and enjoying because there is no

pressure, and no one is queuing for fuel.

This is due to good governance and good

work done by H. E. Nana Addo Dankwa

Akufo-Addo. Clearly, it is showing that

this country is well, and this is the true

state of our country.

Mr Speaker, if one takes the Gold for

Oil (G4O) Policy that His Excellency the

President mentioned in his message,

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

indeed, it is a good policy. We have

started enjoying the success of it. As at

December, we were buying petrol and

diesel at around GH₵20. Star Oil, as we speak, is selling at GH₵13.80. This is the true state of the country and this is the

reason for which we say that the country

is doing well. So, Mr Akandoh, all is

well.

Mr Speaker, my Hon Brothers on the

other Side know very well that in

challenging times like this, we should

expect everyone coiling, like they said

we should coil and not do anything to get

money.

Mr Speaker, however, in challenging

times, this Government ensured that

electricity and water were available to

every Ghanaian. It was a difficult time

and other countries were struggling, but

this is what the President that we have

today has done. This is what we call good

governance and this is the true state of

our country.

Mr Speaker, when His Excellency

the President talked about roads, my senior Hon Colleague, Mr Ricketts- Hagan questioned the existence of some of the roads. However, immediately the Hon Minister for Roads and Highways who is here today brought out a press release to set the records straight, I have not seen anybody challenge the statement. This tells us that the roads that we say we have constructed can visibly be seen; one can walk on them and feel good. We drive on them to our various constituencies and we are alright. This is

what we call a true state of the nation address.

My brother, the Hon Member for

Sawla/Tuna/Kalba, Mr Chiwitey, knows very well that going to Sawla was a struggle, but now he enjoys a smooth ride. This is the true state of our country and this is what we call good governance.

Mr Speaker, we are in times of

challenges. Recently in Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, some persons we call bola people went on strike; waste collectors, bus drivers, and train engineers were all on strike because the country was struggling. At that time, we were paying Cost of Living Allowances (COLA). Members of Parliament and Parliamentary Service staff continuously received salary alerts on their mobile phones every month. That is what we call good governance, and that is the true state of our country.

Mr Speaker, the Free SHS policy has

not been abandoned; it is going on well. This is the true state of the nation and good governance.

Mr Speaker, with your leave, l would

like to conclude by quoting something from the second stanza of the Ghana National Anthem:

“Hail to thy name, O Ghana,

To thee we make our solemn vow;

Steadfast to build together, A nation, strong in unity; …

Mr Speaker, our National Anthem

say that we, the representatives of the

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

people, have made a solemn vow to build

this country in unity. It is upon this that

His Excellency the President is calling

upon us, that for him to be able to build

this country, we should come together to

help approve his policies; we should

come together to help approve his

ministers, and that is the vow that the

Hon Member for Sawla/Tuna/Kalba, Mr

Chiwitey and I have made to the

constituents that we represent in this

Chamber, to ensure that we build this

country in unity.

Mr Speaker, in conclusion, let us

count our blessings and name them one

by one. His Excellency the President's Message on the State of the Nation is a

true reflection of same and he must be

commended.

Hon
Member thank you very much.
I will now give the opportunity to the
Hon Member for Builsa North, Mr James
Agalga.
Hon Member, you are an Hon
Ranking Member of the Committee on
Defence and Interior. You have 15
minutes.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.
However, before I proceed, I would like
to make an appeal to the Hon Minister
for Defence not to interject because on
Friday when he took his turn to debate,
there were no interjections—

Hon
Member, please proceed.

Mr Speaker, the
President, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-
Addo, doubles as the Commander-in-
Chief of our armed forces. When he
appeared before this House to deliver the
Message on the State of the Nation, he
touched on a gamut of issues including
the security sector. In touching the
security sector, the President merely
touted what he would call his
achievements, and in the course of the
debate in this House, the Hon Minister
for Defence actually took the matter to
another level by touting what he claimed
was unprecedented achievements under
the stewardship of President Akufo-
Addo.
Mr Speaker, however, I was
flabbergasted when I sat down quietly to
listen to the President for more than one-
and-a-half-hours. As Commander-in-
Chief of the Republic, one would have
expected that His Excellency President
would have told us the state of security
in our country before talking about
procurements done under his watch for
the improvement of the delivery of
services for the Ghana Armed Forces and
the other security agencies. He neglected to
do so much to the chagrin of Ghanaians.
Mr Speaker, what is the state of our
security as of now? In Bawku, the age-
old crisis has escalated. There have been
so many killings and many people have
lost their lives. One would have expected
that as Commander-in-Chief of the
Armed Forces and the principal
guarantor of the peace and security of our
country, President Akufo-Addo would
have at least said a word about the age-
old Bawku conflict. I have the statement

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

in my hands; there is no single paragraph

on Bawku, yet His Excellency the

President is Commander-in-Chief of our

Armed Forces.

Mr Speaker, again, we all witnessed

what happened in Ashaiman few days

ago. The incident that happened in

Ashaiman actually preceded the delivery

of the Message on the State of the Nation

by Mr President. However, for the

benefit of those who may not have

followed the news about happenings in

Ashaiman, a soldier was murdered in

cold blood. The Armed Forces reacted,

and their reaction resulted in excesses.

They themselves have admitted that their

reaction has resulted in excesses leading

to the abuse of fundamental human rights

in Ashaiman.

Mr Speaker, as Commander-in-Chief

of the Armed Forces, the President was

duty bound to say a word about

Ashaiman because rights had been

violated including the murder of a

soldier. H. E. the President simply just

did not find space in the one-and-a-half

hour's delivery to at least, console the family of the bereaved soldier and also to

express regret about the abuses of the

rights of the people of Ashaiman. That

was unfortunate; the President simply

did not live up to expectation as

Commander-in-Chief, and I would

admonish him to find space and address

the nation on Bawku and Ashaiman. It is

an imperative and he must honour the

imperatives of addressing those two

critical issues because at the moment,

they are the two most disturbing security

issues that have bedevilled our country

over the past few days.

Mr Speaker, the last time, the Hon Member for Bawku Central, Mr Mahama Ayariga was in this House to make a Statement about happenings in Bawku, that should have served as a guide for His Excellency the President to say a few words about Bawku and even Ashaiman.

Mr Speaker, the President in his

delivery created a certain impression and I would like to set the records straight.

He made the argument that he had

done certain equipment purchases, including vehicles, ammunitions, et cetera to the security services, and this is found on page 9 of the Message on the State of the Nation, 2023.

Here, what the President simply says,

in a bullet point is that he “provided more equipment (vehicles, ammunition, et cetera) to the security services than any other government in the Fourth Republic”. These are the words of Mr President. On page 13, Mr President went on to list some of the equipment he has provided for the security agencies. I would like to start with the Army. Mr President told this House that “the Army has received 104 armoured personnel carriers; 70 utility-troop-carrying vehicles; 20 armoured vehicles; 85 assorted Toyota vehicles; 50 Ankai buses; 40 Jeep J8 vehicles; and some Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) equipment. This is the evidence he provided to demonstrate that he has re- tooled the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and other security services, more than any other government in the Fourth Republic.

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Mr Speaker, I dare say that this statement does not represent the truth; this statement was misleading and has no basis, and I would demonstrate that in a moment. I would like to refer the House to the achievements of ex-President Mills and ex-President Mahama in the security sector, in terms of re-tooling of the security sector. This statement listed the achievements and equipment they are supposed to have bought for the security agencies.

Mr Speaker, I would take you down

memory lane, and I would like to remind the Hon Minister for Defence in particular, that between 2012 and 2014, the Ghana Police Service alone took delivery of over 1,424 vehicles. This is unprecedented in the history of our country. Yet, President Akufo-Addo stood before this House and said because he had bought 70 buses and 100 APCs for the Armed Forces, he has done better than any other government in the Fourth Republic. This is not true.

Once again, let me demonstrate to

the Hon Minister for Defence in particular — He should send a word back to the President that the statement he made was misleading. The President could not say a word about the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), but between 2014 and 2016 alone, the GNFS took delivery of over 200 fire-fighting vehicles. Throughout the six (6) years that President Akufo-Addo has been in Government, he has not provided the GNFS with even a single fire-fighting engine. Yet, he says his achievements in the security sector are not comparable to any other government in the Fourth Republic. This is not true.

Mr Speaker, let me speak directly to

the Hon Minister for Defence — and I am referring to the Budget Statement

read by the former Hon Minister for

Finance, Mr Seth Terkper in 2015. In the

2016 Budget Statement, Mr Speaker —

Mr Domnic Nitiwul — rose —

Mr Speaker, I thought I
had appealed to my Hon Brother not to
interject.

Mr Speaker, I just want
to plead that if he does not want me to
interject, he should stop mentioning my
name. He should just make his point. If
he mentions my name, I would interject.
Otherwise, I would prove to him that
President Akufo-Addo's record is not comparable to any other person.

Hon
Member, as much as I implore you to
speak without interruptions, please do
not mention an Hon Member's name. Once you mention a name, it means the
person would have the right to either
respond or interject. Please, you can
make your statement without necessarily
mentioning the person's name.

Very well.
Mr Speaker, I take a cue, but let me
support my arguments with hardcore
evidence. I have in my hand the Budget
Statement and Economic Policy
delivered by Mr Seth Terkper in 2016.
On page 143, paragraph 784, this is what

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Mr Speaker, GAF acquired Diamond

Surveillance Aircraft, the MI 171

helicopters, CASA 295 troop carrier

aircraft and the construction of new

ultra-modern hangars in Accra and

Takoradi. Four Z-9 Helicopters

from China were acquired

specifically to support the Ghana

Gas Company (GGC)…

Mr Speaker, again, at paragraph 789,

he spoke as follows:

Mr. Speaker, GAF is undergoing

restructuring to ensure that there is

a military barracks in every region.

The Army is currently based in six

out of the 10 regions of the country

and being reorganized from two to

three commands i.e. the Southern

Command (Headquarters in Accra),

Central Command (Headquarters in

Kumasi) and Northern Command

(Headquarters in Tamale).

Mr Speaker, if today we have 10

mechanised Battalion, 11 mechanised

Battalion, and three Commands:

Southern, Central and Northern, I want

to remind President Akufo-Addo that he

did not initiate these projects. These were

projects initiated by the National

Democratic Congress (NDC). The NDC

bequeathed them to him, and when he

comes before this House to deliver a

message on the state of the nation, he

should be mindful of the achievements

we chalked. Government is a continuum,

so he should not just take credit and

create the impression that he has

outperformed all other governments

under the Fourth Republic. This is the

evidence, Mr Speaker.

I would like to further state that the

President added that the Police now has

an air wing, and so we should applaud

him because it is unprecedented. We

would applaud him but I should remind

him that under the NDC Government,

the marine unit of the Police Service was

set up for the first time in our history.

The Marine Police Unit (MPU) was

established for the first time in our

history. Police visibility is nothing new.

In fact, that is a policy that was rolled out

under the NDC Government. I took part

in the implementation process. The one

who actually mooted the idea is

Inspector-General Mohammed

Alhassan, and we as the policy wing of

Government accepted his initiative and

today, we have Police visibility. So,

President Akufo-Addo should be

reminded that it is a policy that is being

continued. It is not unprecedented by any

stretch of imagination.

Mr Speaker, more importantly — and

I would mention the name of the Hon

Minister for Defence because when he

took his turn to debate last Friday, he

made a statement to the effect that

salaries of soldiers and police officers in

this country have been tripled—This is a statement attributable directly to him—

but once again, this is not a true

statement. It is misleading; he has caused

outrage among the ranks of the Military

and the Police; they are very angry with

him. Let me demonstrate this by starting

with the Police. In November 2020, the

salaries of the Police were increased but

right after the elections in December,

the salary increment was unilaterally

reversed.

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Mr Speaker, I have in my hand a publication dated Friday, 18th December, 2020. This is from Ghanaweb.com, and I would like to read just a few paragraphs.

Here, the Police were very angry

about the fact of the reversal of their salary increment —

Hon

How can the Hon
Minister for Defence say that the salaries of Police Officers —

Hon
Members, you all have the time on your — you can see he is exceeding his time. So, if I am asking him to — Hon Member, please wind up.

Mr Speaker, let me also
note that in respect of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), the major increment in their salaries happened under the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), which was implemented in 2010 by the Mills- Mahama-led Administration. [Hear! Hear!] In fact, salaries of soldiers quadrupled. Salaries of all security services quadrupled with the implementation of the SSSS.

Hon
Member, your time is up. Unfortunately —

Mr Speaker, I am
concluding.
In conclusion, it is important to know
that the only time the Military saw some

Hon
Members, we would now move to the
Hon Member for Trobu Constituency,
Mr Moses Anim.
Hon Member, you have the Floor
now.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the
opportunity to speak, debate and thank
His Excellency the President for the
Message on the State of the Nation.
Mr Speaker, I know for sure that
soldiers are not on the SSSS, and that is
a fact. Soldiers are on a 2-year annual
review salary. The most significant
aspect of His Excellency the President's Message was the assurance and the hope
he gave to this country. When a family,
country or society wants to be destroyed,
hope is just taken away. The moment
hope is taken away, the country would go
into destruction. That assurance alone
and the hope that His Excellency the
President gave to this State that we are
not in normal times, yet he is so definite
in what he and the Government are doing
— He thanked Ghanaians for being obedient to some of the actions and
directions of the Government.
Mr Speaker, His Excellency the
President made us aware that we should
not take the 30-year constitutional
Fourth Republic for granted at all
because since the Gold Coast era, Ghana
has struggled as to which direction or
rule of governance we should take. We

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

have seen the one-party state, the coup

d'états and attempted constitutional regimes, but from 7th January, 1993, we

have been so consistent that we are

pursuing this democracy of the Fourth

Republic, and for that matter, we should

not take it for granted. Even at the verge

where we have the other Side sitting and

directing at the Speaker, we have been

able to hold this Parliament together, to

some extent, by some bi-partisan

approach that people thought that it was

going to be a doom situation; we have

been able to understand and

accommodate ourselves, and where

people thought that this Eighth

Parliament was going to be a destructive

Parliament, and was not going to allow

Government Business to take on, we

have been able to accommodate each

other. Despite some little infractions and

physical struggles that came in, we have

been able to establish and demonstrate

that we are together as a nation, and we

should not take that for granted.

Mr Speaker, His Excellency the

President said that anytime Parliament is

restored into its rightful position, that is

when the power to the people and

delegation of power prevails. I would

like to remind this House that that hope

and assurance that His Excellency the

President gave, for me, is so significant

that we need to uphold and get together

and move in a bi-partisan manner so that,

at the end of the day, we would deliver

our mandate in this country.

Mr Speaker, His Excellency the

President mentioned, and I would like to

put it this way, that in this era of COVID-

19 and post-COVID-19, countries that

would survive are those that will increase

their import substitutions, and that is

very significant. When he mentioned the

items or commodities we are supposed to

increase our domestic production on, he

mentioned fish.

Mr Speaker, ever since we entered

the Ministry, with the support of the

President and the Vice President, we

realised that the policy of 2008, which is

the Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy,

has been overtaken by treaties, conven-

tions, and emerging issues in fisheries

and our marine space. We have revised

the 2008 Fisheries and Aquaculture

Policy. We have validated them, and we

have got the approval of Cabinet to roll

the Policy out. This Policy, hitherto, was

a 5-focal point policy. We have increased

it to 11 focal points. Today, marine in

land, and aquaculture all stand alone, and

we are saying that lagoons are supposed

to be brought to life so that they would

serve as spaces or fisheries resources for

our fisherfolks.

Mr Speaker, we have decoupled post-

harvest management from fish health

because fish health is so significant. As a

result, we are developing the fisheries

sector such that at the end of the day, we

would increase production.

Mr Speaker, as I speak to you, the

industrial trawl fleet are strictly under a

gear regime. Hitherto, the nets used had

a vertical opening of 40 metres and

circumference opening of 120 metres.

They are prohibited from catching

pelagic fishes. They are for demersal

fishes; the bottom-dwelling fishes.

Today, we have reduced the vertical

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

opening to 10 metres and the

circumference to 60 metres because we

do pre-departure, at sea, and arrival

inspections. Today, saiko fishing is gone

forever, and the juveniles are going back

to the marine space and are being

developed. They are gravid and are

spawning to increase production.

Mr Speaker, as I speak to you, we

have developed our women. There is

what we call the “Safe Fish Certification

and Licensing Class II Regime”. We

have brought our women to that level

where today, you can go in and see well-

packaged fish. Today, the hygienic

aspect of post-harvest handling of fish is

so good among our women, and you are

free to enter anywhere and get a hygienic

fish. Fish is very critical and important.

Mr Speaker, as I speak to you,

because of some of these measures, we

were able to produce 628,000 metric tons

in 2021. The value addition ones are not

included. I believe we still have a lot of

space to grow. Today, aquaculture is

moving very fast. The German Agency

for International Cooperation Gmb-

(GIZ) has bought into the policy of

aquaculture for food and jobs.

When you go to the western Region,

we have resource the women so they

could be off-takers, so that the small-

scale aquaculture producers - the

schools and the prisons are all putting

together aquaculture production. I

encourage every Hon Member of this

Parliament that catfish is not difficult to

culture at all. At one's backyard in small

drums, one could easily culture catfish

and when there is catfish at home, one

would not go to buy fish. At the end of

the day we would have reduced

importation of fish. So, Hon Members,

let us go into catfish and tilapia

production and I strongly believe that we

would be able to reduce our importation

of fish.

Mr Speaker, as I speak to you today,

the licencing regime has been stream

lined. We are bringing in the automation

of premix. In Elmina, the structures are

ready. If one goes to Chorkor, we are

targeting about 50 of them for now and it

is on board. Our Vessel Monitoring

System (VMS) is working. We are

introducing an electronic monitoring

system with real-time situation,

removable disc that would capture the

video images and the VMS data.

Mr Speaker, we are doing all these to

ensure two things - the conservation and sustainable management of the fisheries

resources. This is how we can easily

channel and manage the fisheries

resources to ensure that fishery

infrastructure production is increased.

Mr Speaker, the hatchery system has

been improved. Today, one could get

fingerlings that would give an upturn

of 99 per cent viability. This is to

ensure we produce more fish to reduce

importation. —

Hon
Member, you may wind up now.

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Mr Speaker, in winding
up, all that I would like to say is that the
countries that would survive post-
COVID-19 are the countries that would
increase their import substitution. I
encourage every Ghanaian as well as
Members of this Parliament to go into
aquaculture and ensure that we produce
fish for ourselves.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the

Hon
Member, thank you very much.
It is now the turn of Dr Sandaare.

Yes, Hon Member, you have the

floor now. You have 10 minutes.

Dr Sebastian Ngmenenso Sandaare

(NDC — Daffiama/Bussie/Issa): Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me the

opportunity to contribute to the debate on

thanking His Excellency, the President

for the Message on the State of the

Nation.

Mr Speaker, I would like to say that

in as much as I thank the President for

coming to this honourable House, his

message delivered was uninspiring and

really not representative of the state of

the nation, Ghana.

Mr Speaker, the state of any nation

could be measured in many ways. We

could use the state of the economy or the

state of the health of the people to talk

about the state of the nation. Mr Speaker,

I listened keenly to His Excellency the

President and I would say that I was

unimpressed because he failed to tell us

the state of health of the people of this

country.

Mr Speaker, if reference is made to

the messages that were delivered by His

Excellency the late former President Atta

Mills and His Excellency former

President John Dramani Mahama in their

Statements, they talked about the state of

the people of this country. In their

messages, one would find them talk

about maternal mortality rate, child

mortality, infant mortality and the life

expectancy of the people. When we talk

about the state of health of the people,

these are the areas we look at and not the

kind of things the President mentioned

under the health sector.

Mr Speaker, we all know that at the

time the President was delivering his

message, the state of this nation was

described as a state of health sector

crisis, a state of vaccine shortage. Ghana

was in a state where our new born

children could not have access to basic

and fundamental health needs like

routine vaccines.

Mr Speaker, this was not the only

problem we had. We were also confronted with measles outbreak. At the time the President was delivering his Message on the State of the Nation, his men in charge of health did not brief him well but he followed the tangent of the Hon Minister for Health who said that, “Thanks to God, we did not have mortalities due to measles”. But just after that, the Paediatric Society of Ghana released a statement asking the President

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

to cross-check his facts, since they diagnosed and treated the children, some of whom had died.

Mr Speaker, in fact, there was a

professor, who is quite knowledgeable in measles who said that from what they saw and treated, it was possible that the children who were diagnosed died due to measles. So, who is telling the truth here? Is it the President or the doctors and professors who are treating the measles cases that they diagnose?

Mr Speaker, they further stated that

to date, the results of the over 80 per cent of the samples they took from these children could not be produced. Mr Speaker, we cannot even do testing for measles in Ghana. What kind of state — [An Hon Member: Are we in?] — Are we in?

Mr Speaker, under this President,

under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government, — [Interruption] — that just testing for measles and giving results to enable health professionals provide treatment — that one too wahala? — [Laughter] — And one of my Hon Colleagues on the Majority Side just said that “All is well”. — [An Hon Member: How can all be well?] —

Mr Speaker, how can all be well, with

measles outbreak in a state where we cannot get vaccines for our children and when one asks, the Government would say it is due to the COVID-19 pandemic? Now, the question we ask — Did the COVID-19 pandemic only affect Ghana?

Mr Speaker, was it only Ghana that

was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?

What about our neighbouring

countries such as Burkina Faso, La Côte

d'Ivoire and Togo? Today, Nigeria has

become our saviour. We cannot get

vaccines due to COVID-19, yet Nigeria

can supply us with vaccines although

they were also affected by COVID-19.

That cannot be.

Mr Speaker, I believe and I believe

you also believe that it can only be due

to mismanagement, lack of planning and

lack of characterisation of vaccine

management in this country. For this

one, let us spare COVID-19. At least, it

contributed but if other countries which

were affected by COVID-19 can get

vaccines for their children, we should not

give the excuse that it is due to COVID-

19 that we cannot get vaccines for our

children.

Mr Speaker, the President talked

about the National Health Insurance

Scheme (NHIS) and said that as at 31st

December, 2022 the Scheme paid a total

claim of over GH₵1 billion to health service providers. Anybody who

understands basic Mathematics — what is taught in Junior High Schools — cannot make this Statement. If one writes

like that in school, they will be failed.

Mr Speaker, GH₵1.014 billion out of what? The denominator is always

important. How much does Government

owe health providers that out of that they

are now being paid GH₵1.014 billion? That question has not been answered by

the President yet he expected us to clap

for him.

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Mr Speaker, the truth and the state of

this nation is that “cash and carry” is back.

Dr
Sandaare, the truth is that your time is
getting up — [Laughter].

Yes, I am landing on
the true state of Ghana. The true state is
that “cash and carry” is back.
Mr Speaker, our medical stores in the
various health facilities are empty. We
cannot find basic commodities. The truth
is that it is not only vaccines that are in
shortage, essential medicines and
commodities for healthcare are also in
shortage in our various health facilities.
This is what the New Patriotic Party
(NPP) Government can do to this
country.
I thank you very much, Mr Speaker,

Thank
you very much.
Let me now turn to the man from
Dunkwa, Hon Member for Upper
Denkyira East, Dr Festus Kwofie.
Hon Member, you have 10 minutes.
The floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr
Speaker, for the opportunity to
contribute to the Message on the State of
the Nation delivered by the President.
Mr Speaker, in the Statement, the
President indicated the progress made in
the housing sector, especially in the
security unit but it goes beyond that. The
2021 Population and Housing Census
estimated the housing deficit to 1.8
million units as compared to that of 2010
of 2.8 million units. This deduction was
as a result of the in-flow of the private
sector in the real estate sector and
comprehensive and deliberate strategy
by the Government and its related
agencies to reduce this housing deficit.
The Government has undertaken a
number of housing projects, which
includes the following: the Barrack re-
registration project Phase I and II, the
Military Housing Project, Phase I and II
and the Ghana Military Academy
Infrastructure. They are all expected to
be completed within the year.
Mr Speaker, Phases III and IV of 320
units located at the Ghana National
Police Training Service at Tesano will
also be completed. We also have 504
housing units involved. About 100
courthouses have also been built for the
judges. Tema Development Company
(TDC) is also constructing about 139
blocks comprising about 3,016 housing
units. State Housing Company Limited
has also undertaken a number of projects
that go beyond the Security Service.
Urban Premium Court Project at Adenta
comprising of 40 units is completed, and
Koforidua Affordable Housing Unit of
342 houses is also progressing steadily.
Legacy Court Project is also progressing,
and about 120 units at Sefwi-Wiawso
and Pwalugu are all at the various stages

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

of completion. Construction of 121 two

and three-bedroom apartments and town-

houses at Ridge, Airport, and Roman

Ridge are also ongoing. Construction of

a 68-housing unit at Lartebiokorshie

under the Re-Development Programme

is also progressing. These are real and

verifiable projects across the country.

As if that is not enough, not all the

people in this country can acquire

properties. We also have to look at the

youth and the vulnerable ones. This year,

the Government has launched the

National Rental Assistance Scheme by

His Excellency the Vice-President, Dr

Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, and the

entire policy objective is to increase

access to safe, secure and affordable

housing for the people of this country.

Mr Speaker, why do we describe the

state of the nation as disingenuous,

deceitful and unreal? The President

made some admissions. Yes, he has

some challenges and he also came up

with how to solve them. Among the

challenges that the President admitted is

high inflation rate, the weakened cedi,

and above all the Domestic Debt

Exchange Programme (DDEP) that is

ongoing. Ghana has had our inflation

move from 7.8 per cent in the year 2020

and by December 2021, this figure was

about 10 per cent. Three months into

February, it was 15 per cent, then it

moved to 30 per cent by June 2022 and

by October, the figure was 45 per cent

and we ended the year with 54 per cent.

We have seen an ease of the inflation, but

the question then is what are the causes

of this inflation? We have heard at

various programmes by our colleagues

that it is because the Bank of Ghana

printed about GH₵40 billion into the system that has caused this inflation.

Mr Speaker, the President indicated

that we need to reduce our import bills.

Last two years, the import bill for the

country was GH₵7.6. Within two years, it went up by GH₵13.6 billion. If that were to be an investment flow, that

would be fine, but essential commodities

such as rice, meat, oil, and even wood are

imported into this country.

Mr Speaker, let me give you the

statistics of things we import into this

country that is not helping us: rice and

cereals, US$522 million; chicken and

fish, US$571 million and US$721

million respectively; meat, US$35

million; vegetables, US$34.9 million;

wood, US$297 million; wheat, US$139

million; and palm oil, US$136 million.

Why do we have to increase our import

of rice? We need to develop the taste for

our local rice. That is the only way we

can reduce the pressure on the Cedi. We

have Hon Colleagues here who are into

the cultivation of rice.

I know the Hon Member for Juaboso,

Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh is into it.

Our former Deputy Minister for Roads

and Highways, Dr Odoom, is also into

rice production, and we have others.

Why do we want to develop taste for

foreign products?

Mr Speaker, another factor that also

causes inflation is the depreciation of the

Cedi. The Cedi depreciated from GH₵6.4

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

per dollar from January to GH₵13 by the end of the year - an almost 100 per cent rise. If we are importing GH₵13.6 billion from outside the country which

are all things we use not to import, what

do we expect to happen with the

depreciation of our Cedi? From the

Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), about

33.9 per cent of our current inflation was

as a result of imported inflation. So, we

need to reduce our import bills.

Mr Speaker, it was also stated by His

Excellency the President that we must

also increase the local capacity to

produce certain products, and these

include rice and other cereals. This

means that the President has proffered a

solution to this issue of inflation. We

should reduce our import bills — he did not say only in the short term but the

medium and long term. Coupled with the

increase in the production of our local

products, it means we are really solving

the problem of inflation.

Mr Speaker, the President indicated a

four-fold strategy. The second one is

what addresses the issue of inflation. The

third factor that accounted for the

inflation, obviously, is the high import

oil prices. We all saw how the prices of

oil went up. The fourth factor, which is

also a fact, is COVID-19, and after

COVID-19, what is the next factor? The

next factor is the Russia-Ukraine war.

So, why do we attribute the high inflation

to the Bank of Ghana's printing of so much money into the system?

Mr Speaker, I would like to put it on

record that Bank of Ghana — apart from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA)

and the Ghana Audit Service — is the institution that has the best accountants

in this country. So, one cannot rubbish

them. Whatever they do is professional-

based. They do not just print money.

There are four conditions under which

Bank of Ghana can print money. The

first, which is basic, is the replacement of

mutilated notes. The second is anytime

there is a Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

growth: the money equivalent of the

percentage is printed into the system.

The third one is against turbulence or for

contingency basis. That is done in every

country - between 10 and 15 per cent. The fourth one, which we all know, is the

dollar syndicated loan that we use to

purchase our cocoa.

The foreign currency is used to

preserve our currency in terms of

reserves, and its Cedi equivalent is what

is printed to purchase the cocoa. This is

done: we have been doing this ever. So,

I am surprised that our Hon Colleagues

on the other Side say that Bank of Ghana

has printed cash. These are the various

conditions under which Bank of Ghana

can print money, and the reserves that we

used is what has been supporting us.

Mr Speaker, in 2021, Ghana recorded

9.56 months import cover with a reserve

of US$10 billion. That was very

unprecedented. Because of —

Hon
Member, your time is almost up. Just
wind up, please.

Mr Speaker, for the last
bit, if the idea is that Bank of Ghana has
gone beyond the 10 per cent mandate,

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Bank of Ghana has the Constitutional

mandate to protect this country, and

since this Act came into being in 2002,

we have never been able to achieve the

10 per cent ratio that is in here. If we can

go back to 2001 up till date, it was only

in 2007 that we were able to achieve 6.75

per cent. So, how come at that time, we

did not attribute a problem to Bank of

Ghana?

Hon
Member, your time is up.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

I will
now come to Dr Zanetor Agyeman-
Rawlings. Hon Member, you have 10
minutes. The floor is yours now.
Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings
(NDC — Klottey Korle): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to
contribute to the debate on the history of
the state of the nation — I beg your pardon, the state of the nation. I just got
a little bit confused because I think the
first 20 minutes or so of His Excellency
the President's address were based on historical events, so I was not really sure
whether we were talking about the
current state or the past.
Mr Speaker, in 2017, in the
President's address, he said that the Message on the State of the Nation was
to give a fair account of the state of our
nation, and with your permission, I beg
to quote: “I have to give an account of the state of our economy, of our
governance, and of our national culture
and attitudes”, which is why I was a bit
confused about the initial statement with
regard to the current affairs of our nation.
Mr Speaker, in previous addresses,
he mentioned election expenditure
copiously, and I had hoped that he was
going to do same this time around with
regard to the 2020 elections since we
were delving into historical matters. That
did not happen.
Mr Speaker, the President gave us
one small sentence on galamsey, and his
contribution to that was exactly as I say:
“Mr Speaker, we continue the fight against galamsey with the support of
security agencies, in the short term”. In previous addresses, he even went as far
as mentioning the turbidity of some of
our water bodies.
In science, when one wants to show
that one has actually made an improve-
ment in something, one compares the
previous to the current, and one would
have expected that the same
measurements or the criteria that were
used to determine that the Government
was winning the fight against galamsey
would have been repeated to give the
public a fair understanding that, indeed,
progress was being made. However,
sadly enough, this was not to be the case,
and so, one still wonders what aspect of
the fight against galamsey that is going
on and to what extent are we winning this
fight? In also mentioning the fight
against galamsey, there was no mention
with regard to arrests or convictions or
even confiscation of equipment that
being used to destroy our water bodies
and our natural resources.

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Mr Speaker, over 15 paragraphs were

dedicated to how the Government

handled the COVID-19 pandemic in

2020 and yet, there was not one mention

with regard to what was going to happen

to the funds that were realigned and used

for COVID-19 that were supposed to be

used for the reengineering of the drains

in Greater Accra. Only a few days ago,

we had one main downpour which

resulted in severe flooding in some areas

in Accra, not giving our constituents

enough reassurance that, indeed, the

Government is doing enough to resolve

some of these matters that are of great

concern.

Mr Speaker, the President made

reference to the digitisation and

digitalisation of so many of the agencies

in Ghana and mentioned the National

Identification Authority (NIA). Sadly

enough, as much as he boasted about

these achievements, he neglected to

mention the deficit of 3.5 million cards

that were held up in a bonded warehouse

as a result of financial issues; neither did

he mention the fact that 2.5 million

Ghanaians have still not had their cards

printed. This is something that borders

on our national security because to

deprive eligible Ghanaian citizens of the

right to register to vote can create tension

and undermine the gains that we have

made in the last 30 years of this Fourth

Republic and to assure Ghanaians that

the Government was going to do a lot

more to ensure that Ghanaians who are

eligible to vote would not be

disenfranchised as a result of any unfair

laws that would be put in place because

of the delays from the NIA.

Mr Speaker, when the President

mentioned that Ghana was ranked as the

number one tourist destination in West

Africa, I found that quite encouraging

and decided to look up the report from

the World Economic Forum and to my

dismay, the report presents Ghana as 101

out of 117 countries with regard to tourist

destinations.

Mr Speaker, I mentioned this with

great concern because I must ask

whether those who are providing the data

to the President are providing data that

speaks to the global and African

conditions, and they do not skew data to

give a false impression of Ghana doing

better than she actually is. The Message

on the State of the Nation is not for the

President to brag about things, but to let

Ghanaians know that he is aware of what

is going wrong and what his Government

is putting in place to resolve and to

reassure his citizens that things are being

put in place to make their lives better.

Mr Speaker, on page 13, H.E. the

President made reference to the fact that

a lot of gains have been made with regard

to the Accra Initiative. In order to make

reference to what I am about to say, I beg

to quote a statement in the second half of

the paragraph:

We are working with our partners in

the Region to strengthen regional co-

operation in the fight against the terrorist

menace in West Africa, hence our

commitment to the Accra Initiative.

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Mr Speaker, the President's recent utterances on his visit to the United

States of America (USA), certainly, did

not help in the cooperation with

members of the Accra Initiative with

regard to what he said about Burkina

Faso. As we speak, the country that poses

the greatest threat to our internal security

is the one that is on our northern border,

Burkina Faso. Unfortunately, those

utterances that were made by the

President undermined the relations

between Burkina Faso and Ghana, which

are not healthy, given the fact that we

rely on the intelligence accurately and

timely given to us from our sister nation

in order to ensure that our troops are in

the right place at the right time, and we

are making sure that we are keeping our

citizens safe.

Mr Speaker, the President needs to

address this issue and, as quickly as

possible, rectify the damage that has

been done to this relationship that we

share with Burkina Faso, in order to

actually ensure that the Accra Initiative

achieves its desired objective.

None

Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, and

given the fact that the President presides

over all the Ministries, it was unfortunate

that the President made no mention of the

current state of our prisons. He rather

made mention of the police and

helicopters that have been provided, and

he also mentioned how the state of

security in this country has, certainly,

improved because motorcycle riders

actually stop at red lights.

Mr Speaker, we are talking about

civilians being killed in their homes in

some regions of Ghana because of ethnic

conflicts, people being robbed in their

homes, people's phones being snatched right in the middle of Accra, also to not

make mention of the facilities of other

agencies was quite unfortunate.

Mr Speaker, we have over 40 per cent

capacity crowding in our prisons. In the

NPP's Manifesto, with regard to security, there was a promise to deal with

the issue of separating the convicted and

the remand inmates. That has still not

happened. I would urge the President to

make an urgent visit to, at least, the

Nsawam Prison to see the state of affairs

there.

Mr Speaker, I would also like to

remind the President that the NDC

started work on the Nsawam Prison to

expand the facilities and none of that has

continued since he took over. The

President is in his second term, and as a

matter of fact, the second half of the

second term. It is important that he

addresses the matter of the expansion of

the Nsawam Prison in order to continue

what was started under former President

Mahama when the NDC was in office.

Mr Speaker, I believe that as a lawyer

who is well known for his position on

human rights, the President, more than

any other, should appreciate that it is

certainly an abuse of the rights of human

beings to be in a remand facility that is

overcrowded and to be provided with

substandard facilities, and not have the

means of a dignified existence, even if

they have been convicted of crimes and

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

are in prison. This needs to be addressed

with immediate effect.

Hon
Member, your time is almost up.

Mr Speaker,
I thank you. In conclusion, the fact that
we have seen an increase in the tensions
with regard to the civil-military relations
is something that the President should
have spoken to. Given the fact that we
have several incidents of clashes
between our Armed Forces and our
civilians, which speaks to an underlying
criminality and makes one wonder
whether, perhaps, the Police Service has
been overwhelmed because per our
Constitution, the military is not to be
called in unless the police is
overwhelmed with what it is that they are
meant to do. Is there an issue with regard
to the training or deployment of the
police within our various communities?
These are issues that the President should
have spoken to.
Mr Speaker, our internal security is
key, given what is happening on our
external borders, and if some of these
issues with regard to —

Hon
Member, your time is up.

Mr Speaker,
civil-military relations need to be
addressed as a matter of urgency in order
to protect and preserve the sanctity of
peace and stability in our country.
Mr Speaker, I thank you. [Hear!

Hon
Members, I would now call the Hon
Member for Pru West, Mr Stephen
Pambiin Jalulah.
Hon Member, the floor is yours; you
have 10 minutes.
Mr Stephen Pambiin Jalulah (NPP
— Pru West): Mr Speaker, I thank you for recognising me and giving me the
opportunity to speak on the Motion that
this honourable House thanks His
Excellency the President for the Message
on the State of the Nation, which was
delivered to this honourable House on
Wednesday, 8th March, 2023.
Mr Speaker, the President is enjoined
by article 67 of the 1992 Constitution of
Ghana to present a Message on the State
of the Nation at the beginning of each
Session and also at the end of the
Parliament. The President, having been
an Hon Member of this House for three
terms, expertly came around to deliver a
message. In doing so, His Excellency the
President spoke on the true issues
confronting the nation today.
Mr Speaker, it is trite knowledge that
across the globe, every economy is
suffering due to the impact of COVID-
19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Our Hon Brothers on the other Side do
not really want to hear that. Experts all
over the world, including the Bretton
Woods Institutions, believe that this
double whammy or twin has dealt
negatively on all the economies of the
world.

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Mr Speaker, until the advent of COVID-19, Ghana was doing really well. In some 40 years, we have never had a surplus balance of trade, but under the rulership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, between the years 2017 and 2019, Ghana had balance surpluses.

Mr Speaker, again, by January 2020,

the inflation rate had come down to a single digit of 7.8 per cent. With your permission, I beg to quote a portion of page 4 of His Excellency the President's Message on the State of the Nation:

This is what I told this House on 20th February, 2020, and I quote: “Mr. Speaker, in three years we have reduced inflation to its lowest level (7.8% in January 2020) since 1992. For the first time in over forty (40) years, we have had a fiscal deficit below five percent (5%) of GDP for three years in a row. For the first time in over twenty (20) years, the balance of trade (that is the difference between our exports and imports) has been in surplus for three (3) consecutive years.

Mr Speaker, this is how His

Excellency the President managed the economy of Ghana until the advent of

COVID-19.

Mr Speaker, then came COVID-19,

where everybody got panicky because we did not have any science on how to manage it. The big cities were partially locked down, and our land borders and airports were closed, which resulted in the Government spending to keep our

people hygienic by supplying free water and subsidised electricity, and also paid workers when they were not going to work.

Mr Speaker, we went on our phones,

and I, in particular, went to

www.worldometer.info every minute to

see the rate of infections in the world: the

total number of infections, number of

deaths, active cases, recovered cases, et

cetera. Today, people who panicked

because of this situation do not blame the

President for how he managed the

situation. We all saw in the international

media how people were dying, but the

President did not want that to happen to

us. I do not want to remind people of the

pain they went through when their

relatives lost their lives to the pandemic.

However, it is true that we lost sons and

daughters of the soil to the pandemic,

hence the reason we acted the way we

did.

Mr Speaker, despite all the

challenges that I have recounted, the

President managed to do a lot of work

when it comes to the development of the

country. Under infrastructure

development, it is evident across the

length and breadth of the country that the

President has managed to build One

District One Factory (1D1F) projects in

so many districts and Constituencies, and

I am privileged to be one of the Hon

Members of Parliament to have

benefitted from the 1D1F project. My

constituency has a cassava factory that

has been put up for us. Under

infrastructure, a lot of classrooms,

community-based health planning and

services (CHPS) Compounds, clinics, and

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

lecture rooms have been put up for our

little ones to have a place to learn.

Mr Speaker, again, if one comes to

the intangibles — [Interruption] — I would leave the road sector for my boss,

who is more competent, to make a

comment. I have heard my Hon Brothers

on the other Side shout “roads”. It is trite knowledge that under the rulership of

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, we

have constructed about 11,900 km of

roads as compared to the NDC's paltry record of about 4,600 km of road — [Interruption]. Yes! The evidence is

there. Mr President annexed the White

Book, and Hon Members have a copy so

they can go and check. Nobody can

dispute that.

Mr Speaker, when we come to the

soft assets that Mr President did for the

country, the first one I would like to

mention is the Free Senior High School

(Free SHS) Policy. I am here because I

enjoyed free SHS. Back in the day, the

Northern Region had free SHS and that

is the reason I managed to go to school.

Today, under the Administration of

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-

Addo, every child of school-going age in

Ghana can go to school free of charge

until they complete SHS.

Mr Speaker, beyond that, today, we

have digitalised almost all our processes. If one goes to the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), where I once worked, one does not need to walk to their offices to renew their cards or to subscribe. One only sits in the comfort of his or her home and is able to enrol or renew on their phone. When it comes to

applying for passports, birth certificates, and Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) certificates, every- thing has been digitalised, thanks to the efforts of Dr “e-Bawumia”, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, who has been championing digitalisation in Ghana. We now have a digital address system, port automation, among others.

Mr Speaker, today, the President has

managed to bring dumsor under control whereas in other jurisdictions, especially in South Africa, they have recently appointed somebody to be a dumsor Minister, Electricity Minister, to deal with their dumsor issues.

Mr Speaker, the President has

maintained peace in this country. Our borders are protected and we have internal peace. However, one thing I would say is that we need to respect the men in uniform. In the past, people were scared to even walk past a police officer or a military officer, or a border guard in those days. Today, what do we see? People want to snatch the caps of the uniformed men and even take their guns from them. I would expect Ghanaians to accord respect to the people in uniform since they are there for us.

Mr Speaker, a lot is there to be said,

but let me say that the President is employing workers. He has employed a lot of people in the education and health sectors, local government, and even the temporal employment of forestry assistants under the Youth Employment Agency (YEA). As we speak now, the process is ongoing to recruit more teachers into the Ghana Education Service (GES).

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Mr Speaker, I would like to conclude

by saying that despite all the negative

things that have plagued the economy of

Ghana, the President has managed to

keep the ship sailing up to date and

Ghanaians should have hope and keep

faith with him. I would like to say that

there is light at the end of the tunnel. The

IMF had an agreement —

Hon
Member, I thank you very much. You
have exhausted your time.

Mr Speaker, the IMF
had a staff-level agreement — [Interruption] — and hopefully in April, the IMF Executive Board would approve

Mr Speaker, I would like to conclude

by saying that the President has secured

the borders between our neighbouring

countries and us, and the relationship

between Ghana and Burkina Faso

remains very strong. However, Isaiah

40:31 says:

But they who wait for the LORD

shall renew their strength; they shall

mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary…

Mr Speaker, I thank you. [Hear!

Hon
Member, I thank you very much.

Hon Member, are you called

Thomas?

Yes,
Mr Speaker.

Mr
Thomas Nyarko Ampem?
Mr Thomas Nyarko Ampem (NDC
— Asuogyaman): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity. However, I am
very disappointed that you do not know
my first name — [Laughter]. Thomas, a very optimistic Thomas.
I know you are familiar with Ampem
Nyarko, but my first name is Thomas.
Mr Speaker, there is this popular
story about a student who prepared very
well for an examination thinking that the
topic that would appear in the exams
would be about the types of rainfall. So,
he memorised everything he knew about
rainfall, but when he got to the exam
room, to his disappointment, the
question that appeared was about the
tropical rainforest. So, this student was
found wanting, but he said either way,
there is rain in the question that
appeared. So, he said, “One may ask, what is rain?” He poured everything that he had learned about rain and wrote
extensively about the types of rainfall,
but when the results of the exam came,
the examiner wrote “deviated” on his paper. That is exactly what His
Excellency the President did on the

Mr Speaker, the President was here

based on article 67 of the 1992

Constitution, which states that:

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

The President shall, at the beginning

of each session of Parliament and

before a dissolution of Parliament,

deliver to Parliament a message on

the state of the nation.

Mr Speaker, we all heard His

Excellency the President. In fact, about

15 minutes into his address, we were

wondering whether he was delivering the

Message on the State of the Nation for

Ghana or somewhere else. He had

memorised all the Messages on the State

of the Nation that he presented to this

House in 2020, so we heard him

reproduce his own address that he

delivered previously for 2020. I was not

surprised that the Hon Member for Pru

West, Mr Stephen Pambiin Jalulah, did

the same thing few minutes ago. Instead

of telling us the current state of our

nation, he told us the inflation rate for

2020, which was 7.8 per cent.

Mr Speaker, for the information of

the House, the current inflation rate in

this country is 53 per cent, which is way

above 50 per cent. So, why did the Hon

Member not tell us, but rather quote an

inflation rate of so many years ago?

Mr Speaker, His Excellency the

President missed an opportunity to carry

Ghanaians to appreciate the situation in

which we are now, and to help him get us

out of it.

Mr Speaker, earlier speakers have

mentioned that at the time that His

Excellency the President was delivering

the Message on the State of the Nation,

soldiers were in Ashaiman, abusing the

rights of the citizens. A soldier had been

killed in Ashaiman but His Excellency

the President did not see the need to

mention that.

Mr Speaker, in the same week that

His Excellency the President was in the

House to present the Message on the

State of the Nation, the contractor of a

Brazilian construction company laid off

more than 1,500 construction workers in

the Ashanti Region. Unemployment is

worsening but His Excellency the

President did not see the need to talk

about that.

Mr Speaker, our cedi has depreciated

significantly, and today, the dollar

officially sells in excess of GH₵12 but His Excellency the President did not see

the need to talk about these things. So, he

missed an opportunity. However, my

recommendation to this House is that the

next time that we bring His Excellency

the President to come and address us on

the state of the nation, we should send

him a template and tell him the things

that he needs to talk about. We should

help him not deviate so that, at least, he

Mr Speaker, our Hon Friends and the

President have been talking about the

state of the economy in 2017, 2018 and

2019. There is a very basic principle in

economics that talks about the response

lag. The response lag tells us that

whenever any economic policy is

implemented, be it money or physical,

there is a time lag between the time that

policy was implemented and the period

that the impact of the policy is felt on the

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

economy. The impact of an implemented

economic policy is not felt the same year;

there is always a time lag. So, all those

successes in 2017, 2018 and 2019 that

Hon Members of the Majority have

talked about were the results of the

economic policies that were

implemented prior to that period. Those

were the economic policies of former

President John Dramani Mahama.

Mr Speaker, today, we feel the

impacts of the economic policies that

were implemented in this country in

2018, 2019 and 2020. So, we now feel

the impacts of the economic policies of

H. E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

and H. E. Alhaji Dr Mahamudu

Bawumia. They should always

acknowledge this fact that it would take

time for the impacts of whatever policies

that they implement to be felt in the

economy.

Mr Speaker, if we look at the

Message on the State of the Nation that

His Excellency the President presented,

he tells us that he has not been reckless.

Indeed, in paragraph 3 of page 6, he tells

us, and with your permission, I beg to

quote:

Mr Speaker, it was Government that

asked for the COVID funds to be

audited, and I can assure this House

that nothing dishonourable was

done with the COVID funds.

Mr Speaker, I doubt if His

Excellency the President himself took

time to read the Report of the Auditor-

General. If he did, he would have

realised that the Report indicated that

GH₵9,999,444 was spent on providing

hot meals during the COVID-19 period.

What is striking about this is that they

said that all these amounts were paid in

cash; they did not use the banking

systems to settle this. So, they carried

cash of GH₵12 million in sacks to go

and settle payments. What is even

worrying is that retirement for this

GH₵12 million was done by only honour

certificate. So, somebody took a sheet of

paper and a pen, and wrote that, for

instance, “I, Kwasi Manu, received so

much for the provision of this”. They did

not even retire with receipts. They retired

GH₵12 million with honour certificates.

If this is not dishonourable, what else

could be dishonourable?

Mr Speaker, His Excellency the

President suggested that he has not been

reckless. However, the recklessness of

His Excellency the President and this

Government goes way beyond the

COVID-19 expenditure.

Mr Speaker, we would recall that on

the assumption to the reigns of this

country, His Excellency the President

chose to appoint 125 Hon Ministers.

When Ghanaians complained, he told us

in this House that the end would justify

the means. This is the end. [Laughter] It

has truly justified the means.

Mr Speaker, that decision to employ

125 Hon Ministers was reckless, so His

Excellency the President has been

reckless. The decision to hire a

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

presidential jet for US$18,000 an hour

for many hours and days for his trip was

reckless; the withdrawal of over

GH₵300 million for the so-called National Cathedral was reckless; the

decision to spend over GH₵20 billion to collapse banks when half of that amount

could have been used to save the banks

was reckless; the decision to exclude

important debt from the computation of

our national debt— in fact, the amount spent on the financial sector clean-up

was excluded, the Energy Sector Levy

Act (ESLA) Plc and Daakye Bonds were

excluded just to create an artificial space

for them to go on a borrowing spree,

which was reckless. So, this Government

has been reckless.

Mr Speaker, their failure to go to the

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

when everybody advised them to go, the

delay has caused us so much, so that

decision was reckless. This Government

has been reckless. The decision to ask the

Bank of Ghana to finance the Budget

deficit of the Government in excess of

GH₵40 billion in a year was reckless. Asking the Bank of Ghana to print

money for the Government to do this was

reckless. So, H. E. Nana Addo Dankwa

Akufo-Addo and H. E. Alhaji Dr

Mahamudu Bawumia have been very

reckless in the management of our

Mr Speaker, under the watch of H. E.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-

Addo and H. E. Alhaji Dr Mahamudu

Bawumia, for the first time in our recent

history, inflation has succeeded 50 per

cent, one litre of diesel has crossed

GH₵20, we have appointed 125 Hon

Ministers, and our currency has hit more

than GH₵14 per dollar.

Hon
Member for Asuogyaman, your time is
almost up.

Mr Speaker, I am
concluding. For the first time in our
history, our debt has exceeded 100 per
cent of our GDP, seven banks have been
collapsed, Ghana has been downgraded
by all rating agencies to the lowest ever
point, Ghana has lost access to the
international bond market, and is
bankrupt.
Mr Speaker, posterity would judge
this Government harshly and at the
mention of the names Nana Addo and
Bawumia, their descendants would bow
down their heads in shame. [Hear!

Hon
Members, we have had five contributors
from each Side, and that was the
agreement.
Leadership, what is your pleasure?

Mr Speaker, that is all
we have for today. I, therefore move that
today's proceedings be adjourned to tomorrow 10.00 a.m. in the forenoon.

Mr Speaker. We are
ready to work but obviously— I second the Motion.

Message on the State of the Nation, 2023

Mr Speaker,
that would not be part of the records.
Leadership agreed that we would have
five each. If there is any other thing that
my Hon Colleague would like us to
transact, we are ready to transact that
Business.

Mr Speaker, the reason I
raised this is that this morning we agreed
that after the debate we would take some
Statements, but obviously, we could end
the day.

Hon
Members, I would also just like to
remind you that we are also having The
National Honours and Awards, and some
of us may have to be there. On that note,
we will bring proceedings to a close.

Mr Speaker, we are
actually doing this on behalf of our Hon
Colleague. He is receiving an award and
we are closing early to go and support
him. So, they should not behave as if we
are doing this for ourselves and they
know it. They should not come here and
behave as if we are doing something
new.

Minority Leadership, may you second
the Motion.

Mr Speaker, I second the
Motion.
Question put and Motion agreed to.