The President will in the course of today deliver his 2011 State of the Nation Address. We in NPP UK & Ireland presume that he will precede his address with an evaluation of his 2010 address. Some key messages that were delivered in his address last year still raise a number of questions as they have not been addressed.<\/p>\n
We will therefore like to help him focus on the key questions that he needs to address in his address this year.<\/p>\n
1. \tLast year the President said \u201cWe will invest in human resource development, in key infrastructure, in the development of the oil and gas sectors, and above all, in the modernisation of agriculture and related processing activities\u201d. As bulky and vague as the promise is, we would like the President to give us evidence of his achievement in this area.<\/p>\n
2.\tLast year the President said \u201cI have instructed the Energy Ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, to fast-track investments in the necessary infrastructure, including a Deep Sea Port with a dedicated oil services facility and the rehabilitation of the Western railway corridor\u201d. One year on, where is the evidence?<\/p>\n
3. \tLast year the President said \u201cwe will facilitate the development of a reliable, cost-effective and world-class communications infrastructure. We will also fast-track the development of a road transport network that will meet the economic, social and environmental needs of Ghana in the years ahead\u201d. One year on, where is the evidence?<\/p>\n
4.\tLast year the President said \u201cThis goal of “Food Security” will be a national priority. We will marshal all the resources at Ghana’s disposal to meet this end, for we cannot be a well-respected member of the community of nations… and when we next seek the people’s mandate, they will judge our success in this task\u201d. Food Prices are rising very fast at a rate not seen since the eighties. Can the President address the progress his government has made on this to seek the people\u2019s mandate in 2012<\/p>\n
5. \tLast year the President said \u201cI so often hear the cry from our people that money is hard to come by.\u201dWhere is the money in our pockets that you promised?” is a question we hear almost daily. Well, Madam Speaker \u2013 I understand just how our people feel! But here too, real change is happening!\u201d we see a double speak here. Did he or did he not promise that?<\/p>\n
6.\tLast year the President said \u201cthe Buffer Stock Management Agency will in the course of the year take over and rehabilitate the 12 warehouses of the erstwhile Ghana Food Distribution Corporation for its operations\u201d. Can the President give us an update on this please?<\/p>\n
7.\tLast year the President said \u201cPair trawling has been prohibited and the Navy has been instructed to apprehend all those who engage in that criminal activity which is destroying the livelihood of our hardworking fishermen and their dependants.\u201d Has our President bothered to check from our fisher folks at Moree and other fishing towns and communities along the coast?<\/p>\n
8.\tLast year the President said \u201cMeanwhile I have directed all sectors to mainstream job-creation into their programmes and Ministers are required by the middle of the year to produce sector blueprints for the creation of jobs.\u201d One year on which one has arrived, the blueprint of the jobs?<\/p>\n
9.\tLast year the President said \u201cA number of other programmes will begin this year. These include the provision of free education for disabled children; the refurbishing of science resource centres; the provision of infrastructural facilities in Senior High Schools, the removal of Schools under Trees and the elimination of the school shift system.\u201d<\/p>\n
10. \tLast year the President said \u201cBeginning this year, in addition to whatever the Central Government is doing in the Housing sector, we shall expect our Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to invest a sizeable proportion of their District Assemblies Common Fund in rental housing for lower and lower-middle income groups. Where are these rental housing projects?<\/p>\n
11.\tA Last year the President said \u201cA National District Assemblies Rental Housing Project Task Force will be established to oversee the project and make sure that this problem is given the highest priority.\u201d Where are these rental housing projects?<\/p>\n
12. \tLast year the President said \u201cOur predecessors started a number of \u201caffordable\u201d rental housing projects in some parts of the country but none of them was completed. I have directed the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing to complete all those housing projects to help alleviate the acute housing problem facing the country.\u201d To this day the President\u2019s promise has just remained a promise and Dr. Tony Aidoo has stated these projects must be left to rot. What is the President\u2019s take on this promise?<\/p>\n
13.\tLast year the President said \u201cThis year I shall constitute a multi-partisan group, under the guidance of the Electoral Commission, to revisit the whole issue of the registration and voting of Ghanaians abroad.\u201d Where is the multi-partisan group one year on?<\/p>\n
14.\tLast year the President said \u201ca multi-partisan “Presidential Transition Bill” will be established this year to regulate the process of transition from one Government to another and which will, I hope, put an end to the acrimony and bitterness that has characterised past transitions, has been agreed upon. It is to be presented to Cabinet for consideration and to Parliament for enactment.\u201d Where is the Bill or Act, one year on?<\/p>\n
15. \tLast year the President said \u201cA repealing Executive Instrument will be laid before the House in the course of this year – which will restore the original non-discriminatory Honours Warrant of 1st July 1960 executed by the First President of the Republic, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.\u201d Even though we see this as a cheap shot at NPP and President Kufuor, we would like to know what progress he has made on this cheap propaganda.<\/p>\n
16.\tLast year the President said \u201cfor Members of Parliament, we will implement two new programmes that we promised in our Manifesto. The first is to establish a “Member of Parliament Constituency Development Fund” separate and apart from the District Assemblies Common Fund.\u201d Is this in place and if so where?<\/p>\n
17.\t Last year the President said \u201cwe will begin the programme to construct and furnish a standard “Member of Parliament Constituency Office” in each of the 230 constituencies and to pay one Administrator identified by an incumbent Member of Parliament a fixed monthly stipend.\u201d Is this another litany of failed promises?<\/p>\n
18.\tLast year the President said \u201cThe records speak for themselves; Ghana is no longer an attractive destination for the illicit drug trade and I make no apologies for that. I assure you that we shall chase the drug barons and their mules and other couriers out of the town.\u201d Fine words but is this what we saw in the Wikileaks report?<\/p>\n
19.\tLast year the President said \u201cWe cannot fail to recognise the drop in the rate of armed robbery and organised crime and I commend the Police and other security agencies for the effort they are putting into fighting crime. Be it; robbery, murder, rape, or narcotic offences, the statistics speak to a reduction in crime.\u201d So why the Causing Fear and Panic legislation one year on? Is the chasing of district Chief Executives and the forcible closure of National Health Insurance Offices by fotsoldiers of your party not organised crime?<\/p>\n
20.\tLast year the President said \u201cI am charging the Police Service to submit within the shortest possible time a blueprint for a drastic reduction in road accidents.\u201d Is the blueprint the cause of 250 road accident deaths this year alone?
\nUntil these hanging questions are addressed fully, we will consider the annual State of the Nation another wasted opportunity which defines the now dead \u201cBetter Ghana\u201d Agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The President will in the course of today deliver his 2011 State of the Nation Address. We in NPP UK & Ireland presume that he will precede his address with an evaluation of his 2010 address. Some key messages that were delivered in his address last year still raise a number of questions as they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n