President John Evans Atta Mills’ failure to recognize the Chief Justice, Georgina Woode and former President John Agyekum Kufuor in his salutation during his 3rd State of the Nation’s Address seems to have taken center stage, instead of the significance of his address as government would have wished.
Addressing dignitaries in Parliament to begin his address, President Mills said, “Good morning Mr. Vice President, Good morning Madam Speaker, Good morning Honourable Members, Good morning, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning my brothers and sisters“, thus ignoring ex-President Kufuor who was also present at the occasion and the Chief Justice, Georgina Woode who was seated right next to him.
The Minority in Parliament, clearly unenthused by the President’s gaffe raised quite a storm following this incident and tried to draw the attention of the President to the presence of the two distinguished personalities, but their protestations were ignored.
To them, President Mills’ State of the Nation’s Address was divisive and partisan and his failure to acknowledge the two was intentional.
But Peacefmonline.com is reliably informed that it was not a premeditated act on the part of the president since he was unaware Mr. Kufuor was in the public gallery.
It is unclear whether this incident is what might have caused the leadership of the minority in parliament for the first time in this country’s history to fail to accompany the President out of the chamber after his address.
What is obvious, however, is that Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu in response to the Majority Leader’s move for the House to adjourn, described the President’s address as the “most divisive” he had ever heard.
“Indeed we should allow the things that unite us, override that which divides us. But I must say that never in my life have I seen such a divisive address. This is the most partisan state of the Nation Address I have ever seen. It is indeed a sad day in the history of Ghana. On that sad note, I second the motion” he said.
In a related development, unconfirmed reports reachingpeacefmonline.com indicate that His Excellency, President J.E.A Mills, right after his address, through the Castle Press Corps apologised for the blip saying it was not intentional or malice-intended.
According to reports, President Mills sought to explain he did not mean to disrespect former President Kufuor, the Chief Justice and members of the Diplomatic Corps for failing to acknowledge their presence in his salutation.