A number of Ghanaians have asked President John Dramani Mahama to clarify the way forward on the economy when he delivers his State of the Nation Address to Parliament on Thursday, February 20, 2014.
The State of the Nation Address is a constitutional mandate on the President.
Random interviews conducted in Accra showed that the economy and the welfare of the cedi were the major concerns of most members of the public.
The Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, said he was eager to hear the President’s plans and strategies for strengthening the productive sectors of the economy.
He said a strategy of self-reliance in the productive, services and industrial sectors of the economy, with the Ghanaian investor at the heart of efforts to revive all those sectors and the economy, was what he was looking forward to.
Assure Ghanaians
The Head of Research and Programmes at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Dr Franklin Oduro, said in the light of the challenges in the economy and governance, he expected the President to use the address to assure Ghanaians and give clear indications on the direction in which the country was going.
“It should not be the usual promises. The address must give clear steps and plans of actions and plans for the future for Ghanaians,” he said.
Dr Oduro, who also doubles as the Deputy Director of the CDD, said Ghanaians seemed to have lost hope on the trajectory of the country’s economy and governance.
He said it was time for clear policy directives.
Clarifications
The General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), Mr Solomon Kotei, said clear explanations on public sector wages, their cost to the nation, how the government was stabilising the weak cedi and the country’s net balance of imports to exports in view of the weakening currency were the areas he would want President Mahama to dilate on.
He said while government officials were giving conflicting statements on public sector wages, measures to stabilise the cedi were ad hoc, saying all those needed to be clarified by the President. Mr Kotei said the health sector, which to him had become a cash-and-carry system, was another area he expected the President to talk about.